


Unintended Consequences

by heretothere



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Demons, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:20:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 44,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23612926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heretothere/pseuds/heretothere
Summary: As a last resort, Kun summons a demon for a favor.None of it goes as he expects, starting with the demon actually showing up.He needs to learn not take any of Sicheng's advice seriously.
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Qian Kun
Comments: 86
Kudos: 352





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> the inspiration from this came from a post I saw once that was like "imagine combining the tropes of summoning a demon and fake-dating" and shoutout to that lmao  
> the decision to make the pairing Ten/Kun just seemed . . . right, you know?  
> the tags will be updated as characters appear and I'll update the rating at some point - it'll probably be T at highest, I'm not gonna do too much crazy shit

He was never going to go to Sicheng for advice ever again, Kun decided. This was the worst thing he’d ever tried to do. An absurd combination of dangerous and downright silly. An absolute waste of time. He looked over the marks he made on his apartment's laminated hardwood. He should be able to clean everything up and still be able to get his full safety deposit, right? 

He took a deep breath. He might as well go all the way, after coming this far. He squared his shoulders and sat up straighter, but his voice shook reading the words in the old book out loud. He highly doubted the accuracy of the chant's transcription, but it was all he had.

***

Kun knew Sicheng was joking when he suggested that Kun summon a demon. However, he needed help, and with every actually viable option disappearing, he couldn’t get the idea out of his mind. The religious studies section of their university library was well-stocked, weirdly so.

Where did they even get all these books from? Did anyone else use them ever, or only people like Kun desperate and stupid enough to turn to the occult?

Whenever anyone passed the aisle Kun was in, he had jumped, as if worried someone knew what he was looking for. The last couple days had been some of Kun's worst.

That was an exaggeration, but Kun felt entitled to it, considering the circumstances. He couldn't be the level-headed friend _all_ the time.

***

By the time he had finished reciting the incantation, his voice had descended to a mumble, less and less certain of what he was doing, and more self-conscious of how _ridiculous_ it was. Kun held his breath in the silence.

When nothing happened, a mix of disappointment and relief fell upon him. That was until the marks he had made on the floor began to glow. The inner-most circle turned to pure darkness. Kun’s half-taken breath got stuck in his throat.

The shape that came out of that darkness was at first incomprehensible, incomprehensible in the way that Kun knew that he was looking at _something_ , but his brain literally could not manage any other details. A feeling of dread washed over him the longer he stared, but he couldn't look away. After what felt like much too long, Kun could begin to pick things out. Whatever itwas was growing limbs, but was still supernaturally blurry, as though Kun was watching this unfold through television static.

The creature eventually turned into something that was sort of human, sort of not. Human skin blended with rough grey and black patches that were almost scaley. There were juts on the creature's shoulders and abdomen that no human would, should, or could have. Scars from cuts and burns adorned it like tattoos. Looking at the face, Kun could imagine this was what sailors meant when they described sirens, beautiful, but horrifying. Red eyes, a mouth twisted into something that Kun guessed could be considered a smile, and a mismatch of uneven sharp teeth. Kun’s eyes flickered down to a swishing tail, pointed, just like in popular art.

Even though it had fallen from Kun's lap, the book was still open to the page ‘How to summon Satan.' The creature (Satan?) looked down at it, and it laughed. The noise made Kun’s insides vibrate.

Oh, he had fucked up. All of the tips and instructions and warnings he had just poured over in the book and from the internet left his mind. _W_ _hat_ was he supposed to do here?

“So, uh, Satan?” he asked, bringing himself to meet the demon’s eyes. He managed a half-second of eye contact before he had to look away. It was too much.

“What? Your shitty summoning circle wasn’t going to call up _actual_ Satan,” the demon laughed, again. This was the worst day of Kun’s life now, officially, for sure. The book didn’t even do what it said? Come _on_.

Maybe this was actually a blessing (could you use that in reference to a demon?), getting _actual_ Satan in his apartment would probably definitely prevent him from getting his safety deposit back.

“Alright, let’s get on with it,” the creature- demon, it had to be- stretched their arms, and they cracked in ways that made Kun’s ears ring. “What kind of deal you wanna make?”

Kun looked back up, only to again be intimidated by the sharp red eyes that were still on him. “It feels ridiculous now," he said, training his eyes to the edge of the circle that was closest to him, "Well, it did before too but . . . I didn’t think this would . . . work."

“Well, it worked, darling, now tell me what you want.”

“Can you just be . . . unsummoned?”

The demon tsked, “No can do, sweetheart. Summoning is basically the same as signing a contract to sign a contract. Now that I'm here, we have to make a deal. If we let every poor soul who wanted to chicken out go, we wouldn’t do nearly half the business.”

“That’s not an ethical business practice,” Kun murmured.

“You’re literally talking to a demon that _you_ summoned, darling,” the demon reminded him. Kun gnawed on the insides of his lips. “So please, what did you summon me for?”

“I really don’t want to lose my soul for something like this.”

“We can determine the exact price after you say what you want- but I will warn you, immortality or instant fame or something boring and O.P-ed like that very well might be your soul, just saying.”

“No, it’s . . .” Kun covered his face, “it’s . . . well, so . . .” he peeked at the demon, who was obviously getting more bored the longer he hesitated. “I . . . ran into my ex the other day and . . ." Kun dropped his hands, picked at the threads of his jeans, "while we were talking I said that I was dating someone new by now and he . . . invited me on a double date with his boyfriend . . . and I couldn’t turn it down after already lying and it’s too late to _actually_ get a new boyfriend and I can’t just take any of my friends because he’d just see through it because most of them he knows and the ones he doesn’t wouldn’t agree so . . . and then one of my friends said to summon a demon and the date’s tomorrow so I was desperate enough to try.”

“You’re joking,” the demon’s face scrunched up, giggles creeping out into their words.

“I’m not,” Kun covered his face again.

“You didn’t think to postpone this double date until you had someone to go with you? You must have been asked if tomorrow was a good enough day.”

“I panicked!”

“That’s so embarrassing, and pretty pathetic, even by usual human standards. So you need me to, what? Be your fake boyfriend?”

“. . . Yes . . .”

“Are we talking one date or . . .”

“That would be preferable, but . . . I don’t know how believable that would be," Kun needed to shut up. The demon did not need to know all the situations Kun had mentally gone through, and he definitely shouldn't keep a demon around longer than necessary, "I guess it doesn’t matter, I don’t really want to meet up again after this once-”

“But you want me to stick around, just in case?” The smile drew Kun’s eyes back down to the sharp points of the demon’s teeth.

“I-”

“Let’s see . . .” the demon scratched their chin.

Oh, he fucked up, again. “I mean, if one date is easier to make a deal for . . .” _don’t beg, don’t beg, that’ll make it worse_ , he remembered, vaguely, from the forum board that was still open on his phone.

“No, no, we can make this work . . . oh! I got it, yes,” the demon’s face lit up, and Kun’s stomach dropped. “There’ve been some things in this world I’ve been trying to get my hands on, but I can’t come up here for extended periods of time without being summoned, and I usually have to do those duties instead, you know how it is. So! I will be your boyfriend until I’ve collected everything I need. How about it?”

“Uh, do I have to help you with that, or would you just be doing that yourself?”

The demon shrugged, “If you help it might be a little quicker, I don’t know. I guess it depends on you, sweetheart, and how long you want me to stay.”

 _For as short a time as possible_. “Right, got it. I guess . . . all I can do is agree, right? I don’t know how to negotiate anything different.”

“Yeah, you’re kinda stuck, sweetheart,” the demon held out their hand and after a small flash, a piece of parchment appeared. The demon held it up for Kun to see, but of course, the script was completely incomprehensible to him, “These are the things I need.” It only looked like 3 lines - only 3 things? That didn’t seem. . . too bad, right?

After Kun nodded the paper flashed again and the sheets multiplied to a larger contract.

“This is it,” the demon said. Then it retreated into flames.

“Oh, did I . . . did I need to sign that?”

“Give me your hand,” the demon demanded, moving closer. Kun leaned back and offered his hand as the demon's gnarly one reached out. The demon studied it and pressed down with one of their nails, which was suddenly turned into a point, and drew blood from the center of his palm. Kun hissed in pain, arm shaking. “What you’re going to do now,” the demon instructed while pressing around the wound, making blood cover his palm, “is touch your hand where you want to brand me.”

“Brand you?”

“Yeah, like this,” the demon let go of Kun’s hand, and Kun held it out awkwardly to his side. The demon cut their own hand and let the blood smear down over their fingers. He looked Kun up and down and used their unbloodied hand to pull Kun's other arm out of the way and they smacked Kun's side. A burst of burning pain erupted from where the demon’s hand hit his waist. He would have completely crumpled to the ground if the demon hadn't been holding him up. After a couple excruciating seconds, the demon removed their hand and hoisted Kun back to full standing.

“Your turn,” they took Kun's cut hand and flipped it up to remind him of the blood there. 

Through watery eyes Kun looked at the demon, eventually just reaching out, his hand touching the demon’s chest, a bit off-center. He felt warmth in his palm and the demon curved away slightly, the only indication that they were also hurt by this process. The demon pulled Kun’s hand off of their chest and Kun finally got to fall to his knees. A few deep breaths and he hiked his shirt up to look at where his side was still pulsing. There was an imprint there of the demon’s hand, most defined on the index, middle, and ring finger, where it had been the most bloody.

“Holy shit.”

“Now, the contract has been made,” the demon said solemnly. Then, they abruptly dropped to the floor and crossed their legs, sitting in front of Kun. The demon leaned in towards him, expectant. Kun had thought they would disappear or something, chill in hell until they were needed tomorrow. “You have to tell me things about you if you want this to be . . . believable, as you say,” the demon smiled, and it could have been endearing, if it weren’t for literally everything about the situation. The demon waited for him to recover his breath.

“Can you . . . look more normal? More human?” was Kun's first question.

The demon looked down at themselves, as if having forgotten they were obviously not human, “Oh yeah, no prob.” The lines of the demon became blurry again, which was a weird sensation for the eyes. Kun looked down to his lap, only looking back up when the shapes in his peripheries evened back out. In front of him now sat what looked like a boy. A young adult, like Kun, but with a thinner face and choppy dark hair. Thankfully, instead of being naked, he was swamped by a thick black robe that made him look smaller, but still more regal than Kun could ever imagine looking himself. Like this, the strange beauty that the demon had before mellowed into something less scary, more real, more human. 

Thankfully he looked like someone Kun would date.

Kun didn't have a type, necessarily, but if the demon looked too buff or too old they probably would make a strange pair. He did need this to be as non-assuming as possible.

“Can I call you he? I think I’ve been calling you it in my head this whole time,” Kun blurted out.

The demon leveled a stare at him, “Sure,” and shrugged.

Making up a backstory wasn’t nearly as difficult as Kun thought it would be. Though, it wasn’t easy either, figuring out where Kun could have met someone that he would now be dating, who his ex would have never seen before, and who wouldn't know any of his friends. If it came up, he moved to Korea a couple of years ago, and worked at a cafe on the other side of the city. Kun had passed through once, and he had been flirted with between shifts, and that’s all it took for them to start talking. They had been dating for four months but didn’t get to see each other all the time because of their schedules.

Kun told the demon about his hobbies - about the magic tricks and the novels that took up most of his desk space, even though as a grad student he didn't get to read for fun very often. The demon too told him about how he liked to dance and about foods he hated. Kun had no way to tell if he was making shit up on the fly, or if demons did actually have hobbies and opinions on fruit.

By the time Kun got to sleep, they had talked for a couple of hours, and the demon had actually helped him remove the wax and paint and coal from the floor. Kun told the demon he could sleep on the couch, if he needed to sleep. Or would he go back to hell? Nevermind, it wasn't his business. He had turned and promptly went to his room, to keep from saying anything else dumb.

He guessed it didn’t matter if he embarrassed himself in front of the demon. This wasn’t a boy he was actually trying to date, simply a being from hell that already thought he was a loser because he had summoned him to pretend to be his boyfriend.

***

When Kun woke up, he had a striking revelation.

He burst out of his bedroom, but there was no one in the living room. The clock above his thrifted TV said 9 o’clock, four hours before he’d be meeting his ex and his ex’s boyfriend (ex-in-law?). On the flimsy Ikea coffee table was the demonology book open to some random page and papers from his thesis research scattered about. Had last night been a dream, fueled by panic and reading too much of that bullshit book? He instinctively touched his side, and it was sore.

“Do you have any actually good food?” a voice came from behind him. 

Kun jumped and spun around. The demon was in the tiny kitchen behind him, rummaging through his cabinets and refrigerator. Kun narrowed his eyes at the destruction that was his vegetables and pasta boxes thrown onto the tile floor.

“You,” he pointed at the demon, remembering what made him jump out of bed in the first place, “don’t have a name.”

“I do too have a name,” the demon crossed his arms. “You just forgot to ask.”

“But is it some weird demon name that doesn't sound real at all?”

“Well, you can try to call me -” the demon said _something_ , but it was just like trying to look at him coming out of the summoning circle the day before; Kun couldn’t even hold the sounds in his mind, “-but you’re probably right, your shitty human vocal cords can’t do all that.”

“Uh-huh, so we need to give you a name.”

“You can just call me darling, sweetheart,” the demon smiled. Kun looked at the straight white teeth and was reminded of the jangled smile from the evening before.

Kun frowned.

“Gosh, you’re so boring! All of the humans I get summoned by these days are so _boring_. Take a joke.”

Kun ignored him. He looked the demon up and down, thinking. Names . . . names . . . what was a good name? Out of context, this just looked like Kun was having an argument with his goth roommate who took offense to healthy food. It’d be easier, be _funnier_ to imagine it like that - that this was just some scrawny boy who commentated on everything Kun did in an unwelcome but still funny way, who Kun could pull by the ear when he got too annoying.

“Well, it doesn’t have to be a Korean name, we already said you weren’t Korean. I don’t know, do you have a preference?”

“Ten,” the demon said.

“Ten preferences?”

“No, just Ten, the name.”

“The _name_?”

“Yeah?”

“What-”

“You know, like a nickname.”

“A nickname for _what_?”

“Doesn’t matter, it’s my name now.”

“What- okay, that’s fine, whatever.”

“Okay, now that that’s settled, I want breakfast.”

“Do you even have to eat?”

“Nope,” the demon- _Ten_ , popped the p sound.

***

Kun had some cereal stored away that Ten hadn’t yet found. It was only pseudo-healthy sweetened corn flakes, but Ten hadn’t complained. Kun mindlessly scrolled through his phone at the table. He was purposely not thinking about the upcoming lunch.

“Oh fuck, we need to get ready,” Kun stared at the time in the corner of his screen. They had just over an hour and a half to get to the restaurant. He still hadn’t showered since yesterday. Was it just him or could he still smell burnt wax on his skin? “I’m gonna shower, do you . . . need clothes?” 

Ten shrugged. Kun sighed, let his chair scratch against the tile when he got up, and left his bowl in the sink. He pulled a couple shirts and pants out from his dresser. He laid them out on the couch and Ten watched him, leaning against the wall between the kitchen and living room.

Ten sauntered over to examine them. Before Kun could turn away to go take his shower, the demon let his robe fall from his shoulders, showing Kun the scars that decorated the demon’s skin. In his human form, it was easier to make out all the markings. Faded handprints almost fully covered his arms and chest. The demon caught him staring, and postured to show off.

“What do you think? Impressive, right?” It was obvious they must be from previous deals.

“It is . . . pretty intimidating.”

The demon did a turn, showing off his back and shoulders, which were just as adorned. His robe hung bunched around his elbows; the garment flowing around as he moved. It was enchanting in a way Kun wouldn't admit, even in his head. 

“We need to get going if we’re going to be on time, sweetheart, can you let me get dressed?”

Kun pulled a face, “I’m not stopping you, can’t you just magic clothes onto yourself?”

“Magic? Well sure, something similar, but where’s the fun in that?” The demon winked at him. _Winked_ at him. Kun hated this, what kind of situation was this even. He finally left the room to clean himself up.

He thumbed through his other shirts. What would be too formal for an awkward double date with your ex? The white button-up? Or, well, the flannel would hide sweating better, maybe that. He pulled that shirt out and a pair of black jeans.

When he came back to the living room, hair still damp, the demon was dressed, but not in any of the clothes offered to him. Ten had on a fitted sleeveless black turtleneck and a silver chain necklace with a cross, further fulfilling Kun's earlier fantasy that Ten was his goth roommate.

“Where . . . did all your scars go?”

“If I can ‘magic’ clothes onto myself, it shouldn’t be that surprising I can affect normal-looking arms.” The handprints started to reappear, rolling down his arms like when you pour water on a message in invisible ink. They looked even more like tattoos now, like Ten was some gangster with really odd, morbid tattoos. They faded away again. “The only one that’s always visible is of an active deal. So this one,” he poked his chest, "can't be hidden.”

In the bathroom, Kun had spent 5 minutes looking at himself in the mirror. He had studied his own hand-shaped print at all angles, poking it and barely holding back from the onset of a panic attack. He had to keep repeating to himself, that while he had summoned a demon, at least he wasn’t losing his soul in the process.

Ten tilted his head and smiled, "Shall we go?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Aww,” Ten said, way too loudly in Kun’s opinion, and pulled on his ear, “you’re not getting flustered now are you?”  
> “Don’t patronize me,” Kun said quietly.  
> “You? Never,” and the demon wrapped himself around Kun’s arm again.

By the time they left the apartment, his ex had already texted him making sure he was still going to show up. 

Kun wrote _'unfortunately'_ into the text box but erased it before he could actually hit send.

“So this ex of yours,” the demon asked, “do you still have a thing for him?”

“What? No, of course not,” Kun shook his head, “It’s been like, 3 years.”

“It’s been like, 3 years,” Ten copied him in a mocking voice, with a face to match, “that doesn’t mean anything.”

“I haven’t talked to him since we broke up, what would I even be holding on to? Sure, I liked him, but I’m over it by now.”

“So you lied to him about having a new boyfriend? Yeah, you certainly _must_ be over it.”

“Stop being a dick,” Kun told him. Honestly, he wasn’t sure why he lied in the first place. To seem less pathetic? Well, look where that got him. 

“It’s literally in my job description to be as awful as possible, you know that right?” like fluid, Ten grabbed onto his arm and smiled up at him. 

Was Kun gonna get flashbacks to the demon’s sharp teeth every time he smiled?

“Whatever,” Kun shook him off.

“Hey!” Ten resumed his position holding onto him, “You don’t even wanna _try_ to look like boyfriends, do you? And _you_ were the one desperate enough to summon _me_.”

Kun schooled the annoyance out of his expression, “Right, of course, darling boyfriend. Just, _please_ , don’t make a fool of me at lunch.”

“No promises!” Kun received another smile for his troubles. 

***

In the restaurant, his ex was already sitting at a table with another boy. Kun led Ten over and they all exchanged hellos. Well, three of them did. When Kun glanced at Ten, the demon was giving the other two an odd look. Kun had to nudge him before the demon fell into the cheery persona he had decided to be as Ten. If he acted weird again Kun would just have to ask about it later.

“So what have you been up to?” Doyoung asked, “Are you getting your Masters in Chem or something else? I still don’t know a lot about the science programs.” 

“Biochem,” he nodded. “It’s been going well. I’m the lead grad assistant in my lab so I actually get paid, thankfully.”

Doyoung nodded as he listened, relaxed in his seat, “That’s great to hear. I’ve got an internship with city hall right now. I was so tired working for that lobbying group; I finally got to quit from that after graduating.”

“You stayed working there a whole nother year?”

“It was shitty, but it paid well, you knew that,” Doyoung shrugged. 

“What do you do, Jae?” Ten butted into Kun and Doyoung's back-and-forth, simultaneously bringing Doyoung's boyfriend in the conversation along with him.

“I, uh, tutor. I help a lot of people with writing papers, especially.”

“Are you at the writing center?”

“Oh no, I work independently. Sometimes I get jobs from an online tutoring company, so I work with high schoolers too.”

"That's where the money is," Ten said, "Rich parents will pay a lot to get their kids tutoring."

Jaehyun shrugged, "I just like it; it's something I'm good at and I like helping people do well."

“I went and got myself an English major for a boyfriend, could you have imagined that?” Doyoung lightly knocked into Jaehyun, who gave a shy smile in response. Kun would gag if they weren’t so endearing.

“Oh, you’re an English major?”

Jaehyun nodded, “Yeah, I’m into literature.”

Kun did give a skeptical look to Doyoung, “Yeah, this is a bit of a surprise. I remember you had an entire grudge against all lit majors.”

“It wasn’t _all_ lit majors,” he gave an apologetic look to Jaehyun, who wasn't offended.

“No, I get it,” Jaehyun laughed, “the gen-ed classes are barely tolerable, and even the high-level courses are half-full of pretentious assholes.”

Kun had had zero expectations for Doyoung’s new boyfriend. He had been too stressed about dealing with the aftermath of lying about having his own to even think about it. Jaehyun was bright, constantly grinning, and so polite. He was a contrast to Doyoung. Or, a contrast to the Doyoung that was when he was with Kun, at least. Doyoung didn't look that much different, but after hearing him talk again, Kun knew the Doyoung of his memory wasn't a fair representation.

For the brunt of the meal, Doyoung took the lead in the conversation. The Doyoung of before talked like he had a point to make or something to prove. This Doyoung talked like he was self-assured without being self-conscious about it.

Kun was jealous of that. He always had been, a little, of Doyoung’s confidence.

They asked Ten questions about how adjusting to Korea had been. The demon spun a yarn about coming from Thailand, descriptive enough that Kun imagined he must have actually been there at some point. They hadn’t discussed that far into Ten’s hypothetical background, so he was glad the demon had it under control.

Kun tried to stay focused on whatever mundane thing they were talking about, but every few moments his eyes couldn’t help but to be drawn by how Doyoung's new boyfriend leaned into his ex's side. 

Seeing them on the other side of the table didn’t hurt him, not really. He wasn’t jealous or anything, really, he wasn’t. But . . . some sort of longing washed over his heart while looking at them comfortable across the table. He all of a sudden felt heavier. 

He jumped a little when he felt a hand on his side. When he glanced at Ten, the demon wasn’t even looking at him, but his hand kept moving, sliding up his back and over his shoulder. He tilted his head and said something Kun wasn't listening to, stuck on the curve of the demon’s smile. Jaehyun laughed and Doyoung let out a scoff.

“Right?” Ten turned his sharp smile on him. 

“Oh, sorry, what? He blinked a few times then looked across the table, confused. Doyoung just gave him a small lopsided grin.

“Nothing,” the demon pulled his arm away and knocked their shoulders together. He grabbed Kun’s hand from where he had it resting in his lap and intertwined their fingers. 

Kun had to focus really hard on not squirming. They probably should have practiced this too, shouldn’t they've? Damn. His hand twitched in Ten's and the demon gave him a squeeze back.

***

“Do you two want to get dessert?” Jaehyun took out the menu from behind the condiments.

Ten said, “Of course!” the same time Kun started, “Not re-” 

Kun pursued his lips and Doyoung raised an eyebrow at them. Kun reached out his hand to ask for the menu from Jaehyun.

“Are you two going to?” he asked while skimming over the options.

“Might as well, if you are,” Jaehyun smiled. Why was everyone smiling so much? He looked back down.

“These all have fruit in them,” Kun said, gavivg a glance to Ten. The demon pouted and leaned over to look, resting his chin on Kun’s shoulder. “We could get the cake. I’ll just eat all the strawberries off it,” he suggested.

“Okay! That’s fine,” Ten looked up and gave him a smile that scrunched up his nose and eyes and a little nod. It made Kun’s stomach hurt a little. From what? He wasn’t sure.

“That’s cute,” Jaehyun said. Kun thought about ice-cold water to trick himself into not blushing.

“Aww, babe,” Ten said, _way_ too loudly in Kun’s opinion, and pulled on his ear, “you’re not getting flustered _now_ are you?”

Kun risked his dignity for a glance up. Doyoung was mercifully not looking at them, instead looking at the menu with Jaehyun, but the tilt of his mouth told Kun he indeed heard.

“Don’t patronize me,” Kun said quietly, just sullen enough that it might come off as trying to play cute.

“You? Never,” and the demon wrapped himself around Kun’s arm again.

***

Outside the restaurant, Doyoung settled on, “This was . . . nice,” Jaehyun beside him nodded and Kun instinctively followed along. “We should do this again, if you two have time. It’s been nice to catch up.”

Fuck, that wasn’t part of the plan. 

Maybe it was good Ten had decided he was staying around for more than one date. 

And really, he had enjoyed seeing Doyoung again too.

“Yeah, sure, we can try to make something work.”

They parted in opposite directions, Doyoung’s hand hooked in Jaehyun’s elbow and Ten had taken Kun’s hand again. Kun still felt too stiff as they said farewells.

Kun really didn’t know what to make of either of them, his ex and his ex-in-law (he still needed to workshop that). Doyoung no longer sat with a straight back, his movements were more lethargic, he smiled easier. As for Jaehyun, Kun couldn’t find a fault. Of course his ex managed to get a new boyfriend that had to be running for nicest boy ever. Kun liked him. There had been no animosity, no snide comments, no judging side-eyes from either of them. 

He might be a _little_ bitter, but he was happy for Doyoung. Happy that Doyoung had a good enough relationship with his new boyfriend that he was comfortable introducing him to his ex. Good for him.

***

“I didn’t believe you before,” Ten said on the way back, after they were far enough away they could let go of each others’ hands.

“What? About what?”

“That you were over your ex.”

Kun didn’t have anything to say to that.

“What? No rebukal?”

“The word’s rebuke or rebuttal,” Kun kept his eyes ahead, even as Ten had sidled up to him.

“I _said_ , I didn’t believe you were over your ex. But,” Ten shrugged, “you are. Congratulations, you’re not quite as pathetic as I thought you were”

He refrained from responding again. The demon prepared to say it again- he did _not_ like being ignored, did he?

“I don’t know if I thought so, either.”

“Oh, I see,” the demon let it be silent for all of 10 seconds, “that brought the pathetic-ness back up, you know.”

“God, shut up.”

“Yeah, talk back to me, baby.”

Kun bit the inside of his lips. He didn’t take another glance at Ten, knew it would just make him more red. _Don’t argue with a demon, you’ll always lose._ That was another forum board post. 

Instead, he thought about how he agreed to another double date, and how he was stuck fake dating a literal demon until . . . who knew when. This would come crashing down around him, he was sure of it.

***

“And what was up with you?” Kun finally asked, when they were already back in his apartment, Kun at his tiny kitchen table on his laptop and Ten on the couch.

“What was up with me? Besides being a perfect fake boyfriend? Does it seem like I’ve done this before?”

“Jesus, stop talking for a second. You kept giving Doyoung and his boyfriend weird looks.”

Ten shrugged. Kun waited. “Something was, I don’t know, weird?”

“Descriptive, thanks.”

“I don’t know what to tell you!” Ten threw his arms up, “Something felt weird.”

“In what way?” 

“The energy was weird," Ten waved his hand around a bit, "I don’t know. I don’t know if it was them or if it was the place, but something wasn’t . . . normal, natural, or whatever word is better.”

Kun still didn’t understand. Kun hadn’t felt anything strange about Doyoung and Jaehyun. He doubted this was a situation many demons would find themselves in, anyways, he probably just didn't have a reference for what it's like standing in as someone's boyfriend. Or maybe the restaurant was cursed or something. Are haunted places actual things? Kun really didn’t understand how _any_ of this worked.

“Or maybe this is a sign! Jaehyun seemed really nice, but maybe since I’m a demon I can sense evil and he’s actually a terrible person!”

“That doesn’t make me feel better,” Kun shot a frown at him, “I don’t want Doyoung to be dating someone actually awful.”

“What a gentleman.”

“We parted on fine terms. I’m not looking for revenge. If that were the case, I could have summoned you for that instead, couldn’t I have?”

“Oh, true,” Ten pointed at him. “That would be kinda boring, nothing creative about that. Even though you summoning me to be _your_ boyfriend is still dumb, this is definitely more interesting.”

“Glad to be a source of entertainment,” Kun mumbled, opting to look closer at his laptop screen to maybe end this conversation he accidentally started.

“But hold on, if you parted on good terms, why the fuck haven’t you talked to him since you broke up? That’s like, a red flag of a bad breakup,” Ten leaned over the arm of the couch.

“We just didn’t,” Kun shrugged. 

“I call bullshit,” Ten swiped at him, fingertips barely brushing Kun’s leg. “If I was your _actual_ boyfriend _and_ you had just taken me on some weird double date with your ex you think I would know more about it.”

“Well, you’re not, are you?”

Ten stuck his tongue out at him.

“Don’t you have anything better to do? Like, in hell or something?”

“Oh fuck no, there’s nothing to do in hell. And before you ask, no I don’t torture souls as my day job; other demons are assigned to that. Your apartment is kinda shitty, but at least it’s a change of scenery.”

***

It was late when Kun cooked dinner, and of course he had to make 2 portions because Ten wanted to eat. He was going to have to figure out how to budget for having a live-in demon-boyfriend. An unforeseen consequence, definitely.

Maybe because Ten had been bothering him earlier, or maybe because he hadn’t talked about the breakup in a while, in the low light of his cheap apartment, he felt resigned enough to talk about Doyoung

“We dated for almost two years,” he started, looking pointedly down into his bowl. Ten turned to him and, surprisingly, didn’t say anything. “We were on the same floor freshman year, that's how we met. It was nice. We didn’t argue that much. I’ve met his parents a couple times.” 

The summer after junior year, Kun was having one of those weeks where he was in constant panic over graduating, student loans, affording food, and whatever else the Kun of that time was worried about. Doyoung had called him in the early afternoon saying they should talk (he had texted first, then immediately called, as if realizing the text wouldn’t relay enough urgency). 

At the time, Kun hadn’t seen it coming, had figured something else had happened and Doyoung was seeking him for comfort. 

Instead, on a bench outside the park where they had spent a lot of their spring/summer dates, Doyoung said he wanted to focus on his studies senior year, and he didn’t feel the affection for Kun that he had when they were still messy underclassmen. They never hung out again after that. 

Kun remembered Doyoung breaking up with him simply and flatly. He remembered agreeing because he didn’t know how to argue against it, didn’t know how to debate when Doyoung was breaking up with him as though he was practicing for a rhetoric competition. In his room he cried a little (maybe more than a little) and stole some of his dorm-mate’s shitty instant ramen to make something that could maybe be called a dinner that night.

Before then, Kun hadn’t even noticed that the little things Doyoung used to forget at his place had all already been picked up. 

On the upside, he didn’t have to figure out a way to get anything back to Doyoung. On the downside, it meant Doyoung had been thinking about breaking up for a while.

It was awkward. 

There had been no fight. There were no attempts to get back together. There wasn’t even a message sent between them. Just a perfect split. 

They had had a lot of mutual friends. They still did, but at least half of them he saw less and less after that summer (to this day he still wasn’t sure how much was them pulling away and how much was _him_ ). Some of them Kun didn’t even say “hi” to in the hallways anymore.

“So that’s been just over two years ago now.” 

He had known that Doyoung was still at their university, working on his Master’s like him. Though, in their different colleges, they never crossed paths.

“And that’s it. I haven’t had the time or energy to date since,” and it was true. The few dates he had been on were because of pressure from his friends, but there was nothing memorable about any of them now.

Looking back, maybe it was for the best he and Doyoung had broken up in the summer, instead of midterm season with both of them on the precipices of breakdowns. Maybe the quiet, hot summer day was preferable to a windy, fall night. His senior year was filled with his course capstones and grad applications, and he had thrown himself into his thesis research.

“You’re not comparing yourself with Jaehyun, right?” Ten asked.

“Huh? No?” Where did he even get that from, out of what Kun had just said?

“Are you sure?” Ten looked at him critically, “you got quiet, and it’s not because you’re thinking about how he’s a better version of you?”

“I-Ten, what the fuck? No?”

Fuck, _was_ Jaehyun a better version of him? No! For the sake of his mental health Kun was not even going to entertain such a path of thinking.

“Whatever you say, man. _I’m_ not saying he is, but I didn’t know if you were, ya know, thinking it.” That didn’t make Kun feel better, “Anyways, I’m heading out. It won’t be any fun hanging out here all night.”

“Uh, oka-”

Ten was gone.

Why did he leave right _after_ Kun had laid out his feelings from his breakup? Why not _before_ depleting Kun’s groceries? Tenwas the one who asked in the first place, damn it.

Dealing with asshole demon Ten and cute boyfriend Ten in the same day was really too much.

***

Ten reappeared in the morning, right after Kun had come back from his early shift at the lab. Kun didn’t know why. Was hell really so boring that it was more worthwhile lazing about his apartment? The demon did the same as he had the day before: demanded Kun give him food and laid on his couch. He occasionally asked what Kun was doing, but then just called Kun a nerd when he started talking about his research. 

Occasionally he would stand at Kun’s window and narrate what he could see of the street; the first time he made Kun laugh he had half-turned around with his wicked smile, but looked back out the window immediately after. 

He disappeared when it became late again, this time not even saying anything. Kun had looked up and he was gone.

All in all, a weird situation.

Now, Kun was only fake-dating Ten (a literal _demon_ ) for the sake of appearances to Doyoung. 

However, he realized belatedly that the grapevine would slowly wrap around from his ex to his ex’s friends to his own friends and he would very possibly start getting asked about his seemingly secret boyfriend. 

Fuck.

On Monday. Kun finally met up with Sicheng again since his best friend had given him the joke-idea of summoning a fake-boyfriend. The corner of the library they usually met at was always abandoned, except by Sicheng watching Youtube videos on school wifi, which was what he was doing when Kun found him. Sicheng had nodded when Kun approached but stayed focused on his phone. 

Kun considered his options, and started with, “I followed your suggestion.”

“What suggestion?” Sicheng pulled an earbud out but hadn’t looked up.

“I . . . summoned a demon to go on that date with Doyoung.”

Sicheng looked up with a crooked eyebrow, “What is that code for?”

“Huh? No, I, I really summoned a demon.”

Sicheng blinked a couple times, “Stop using weird metaphors you know I don’t get. You actually went on the date? Is the person you took like, an asshole?”

“No, like, for real,” Kun emphasized. Sicheng’s expression didn’t change. “Okay, well, anyways, Sicheng, meet demon fake-boyfriend. Ten, meet best friend.” 

Ten appeared beside Kun, “Hi!”

Sicheng blinked again, “What- who is this?”

“This is Ten.”

“Who you went to see Doyoung with?”

“Yeah?”

Sicheng sat up and looked into Ten's eyes, “How did he get you to agree to this? Are you in one of his classes? In it for the free food? Blink twice if you need help.”

“Sicheng . . .”

“What, am I not convincing as a demon?” Ten grabbed onto Kun’s arm and bat his eyelashes.

“Not really, no.”

Ten blinked and the entirety of his eyes had turned black.

“That’s a cool party trick, though I’ve heard doing that with colored contacts is kinda dangerous.”

Ten blinked his eyes back to normal and pouted. He leaned further into Kun, “Your friend is being mean to me.”

“You can handle it, I’m sure,” Kun half-placated him. Sicheng opened his mouth to say something else but Kun cut him off, “I just wanted you to know, this is my fake-boyfriend. I don’t think you’re gonna be like, interrogated on it or anything, but if someone else brings it up to you, that’s the situation. The double-date was fine and apparently we’re going on another one soon, don’t ask, and I said we’ve,” he motioned between himself and Ten, “been dating for 4 months. He doesn't go here.”

“Where did you even meet this guy?” He looked at Ten again, “How did he meet you?”

“Well,” Ten drawled, “Kun used cheap charcoal and wax to make a summoning circle in his apartment, and I was just chilling in hell until I got sucked up into it. That’s it!” he smiled.

The expression Sicheng gave Kun let him know he wasn’t impressed.

“Why even tell me this guy’s a demon?”

“You were the one who told me to summon him! I didn’t think you would be so hard to convince, honestly.”

“I don’t have anything to prove to you,” Ten said, defiant.

Sicheng just raised an eyebrow at him again and put his headphones back in. 

***

“We should do some boyfriend stuff.”

“What?” Kun took out his headphones.

“Take me on a date,” Ten threw a pillow at Kun’s head. He ducked.

“Why? The fake-dating is a front for Doyoung and Doyoung only.”

“Well it’s easier to lie about it when we’ve actually done things right?” the demon flopped onto his stomach, arms folded on the couch armrest, looking at Kun.

“Maybe, but that’s also so much work, Ten. That’s the reason I’m not _actually_ dating anyone.”

“Lazy ass.”

Kun glared at him, “I am a full-time grad student who’s always working or studying. I am not going to be called lazy by a demon.”

“Well you just did, sucker!”

“What are you, 10? My nephew can antagonize me better than you.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“Please, let me do my work.”

“Okay, how about-” Kun sat up straighter to cut him off- “wait, wait! I have an offer.”

“I’m not stupid enough to make a deal with a demon twice.”

“A casual deal! No blood needed. So- I’ll leave you alone in your nerd studying or whatever even though I’m hella bored as long as you take me somewhere this weekend.”

Kun considered his options. 1: refuse the demon and continue to be bothered by him every 10 minutes, which also ran the risk of making him upset and even harder to deal with. 2: agree and have some peace and a demon that wasn’t actively working against him.

He sighed, “Fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I studied a social science in uni and also havent gone to grad school yet so please bear with me as I for some reason make the main character a hard science major lmao, it's not really central to the story but it was really the only thing that made sense for them to talk about during the date scene
> 
> I actually had most of this chapter planned and written out before I posted the first one, but not so much going forward; hopefully I'll still get the next chapter done within a month!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What do you even need? Like, blood of a virgin and that kind of stuff?”  
> “If only it were that easy. You know how easy virgin blood is to get? Don’t look at me like that," Ten laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> at everyone who's left a comment I've clutched my face reading all of them, I'm so happy that there are people interested in where the story is going and I'm excited to share it!  
> turning into more of a slow burn than I originally thought it would be lol

Kun spent all day, most days, on campus, but Ten was always in the apartment when he came back in the evening. 

Kun expected the relationship he had had with his sophomore year roommate, where they simply lived together, and never talked. At least Kun never had to take _him_ on dates in exchange for peace. Though he had stolen Kun’s food on multiple occasions. 

Though, despite Ten’s promise to not bother Kun the rest of the week, he didn’t completely leave him in silence.

“Do you actually like studying this much?” the demon asked from his place on the couch, “The bags under your eyes are too prominent for this to be like, your all-consuming passion.”

“Wouldn’t that mean I do care about this too much?” Kun volleyed back, not looking up.

“Not with how you look, sweetheart. I’ve been summoned by plenty of zealots, you don’t look like any of them, as it turns out.”

Kun opted to ignore him. The last couple conversations (if you could call them that, since they were mostly Ten vaguely insulting him), once Kun had stopped replying, Ten had taken the hint to lay off. His date was on the line, after all.

“You said you have hobbies, but I haven’t seen you anywhere besides your laptop.”

Kun’s eyes were starting to cross from looking at his computer too long. He wondered if he should take the comments seriously. It _was_ true that all he did was study these days. 

Was he about to learn self-care from a demon?

“You have a point,” Kun closed his laptop abruptly.

Ten watched him from the couch with big eyes. He obviously hadn't expected Kun to react like that.

Kun stood, but didn’t have a plan. Ten’s eyes still followed him as he went to his room. He looked at his bookshelf for a long minute, but he walked back out empty-handed.

“I’m going for a walk,” he said, and he left the apartment. He half-expected Ten to follow him out, but he was still in the hall alone while he locked the door.

It was weird, being outside without a purpose. He hadn't taken a walk for the sake of taking a walk in a long time. He patted his pocket but his phone had been left next to his computer. That was fine.

He had no idea how much time had passed when he returned to his building.

“Did you have a good walk?” Ten asked when he stepped through the door.

“It was . . .” Kun stopped and took a breath, “yeah. It was good, actually. Really nice.”

“Ah, your good mood is already getting on my nerves,” Ten stuck out his tongue. Kun found he wasn’t bothered.

***

Thursday nights were library nights. 

Really, most nights were, if Kun didn’t need to be at the lab. But, since he didn’t have any classes before his lab shift on Fridays, Thursdays were the days he often stayed the latest.

Avoiding the demon in his home was also now a motivation to stay out late.

He wasn’t getting a lot done. Sicheng had abandoned him an hour ago. He was wondering if Ten was just waiting around his apartment. He was worried having a demon in your apartment for a long period of time was asking for trouble. Every day that he returned home and saw Ten, he was worried the shower would spray blood, that the kitchen would be on fire, or that he would find a corpse lying somewhere. 

None of those had happened.

Yet.

“Geez, how fucking late are you staying here?” a voice beside him said.

Kun flailed and fell out his chair. He looked back and Ten was standing there. The demon gave a smarmy grin and a wave with his fingers. Kun anxiously looked at the other tables, but luckily no one else was around.

He got up and straightened his clothes, “Ten,” he hissed quietly, “you can’t just . . . just show up out here!”

“Why not?” he pouted, “That was funny.”

“What if someone sees you?”

“We tell them I’m your boyfriend?”

“That would _not_ explain you appearing out of thin air, Ten,” Kun rubbed at his face. “If you need to say something to me, at least, like, appear somewhere where no one’s gonna see you do so, _then_ come find me.”

Ten sighed exasperatedly, “Booooring.”

“I don’t wanna hear it,” Kun said firmly. “Why are you here, anyways?”

“Dude, it’s like, stupid late. You gonna be here all night?”

“If I feel like it,” Kun sat back down and turned away.

“Chill out, you’re so defensive. I’m just asking.”

“I’m getting work done.”

Ten leaned down and looked at his computer, “Are you? The doc says ‘changes saved at 7:52.’”

Indignant, Kun silently packed up. The demon walked back with him, and though he kept the annoying grin, he didn’t say anything further.

***

On Friday, Sicheng asked, “You wanna go to a game center tomorrow?” He watched Kun scribble in his lab notebook.

“Can’t,” Kun answered. 

“C’mon, you gotta take a break from your thesis sometime, dude.”

“No, it’s not just that,” he thinned his lips and glanced up at Sicheng. He didn’t really want to talk about it, but Sicheng was going to want more explanation than that, wasn't he?

“Then what?” Yeah, he figured.

“I have a date with Ten.”

“You have a date with your fake-boyfriend?”

“Yeah.”

“Right,” Sicheng narrowed his eyes at him, “Why?”

“He thinks it’s easier to lie about being together if some of the experiences are real,” Kun shrugged as nonchalantly as he could, which wasn't very nonchalant at all.

“And you agree?”

“I don’t have much of a choice."

“Did you accidentally choose someone really clingy to play your boyfriend? Are you sure he doesn’t have a crush on you or something?”

“Sicheng, we’ve been over this.”

“You’re not seriously sticking to the demon story?” Sicheng stared at Kun, eyebrow raised. Kun didn’t confirm or deny. “Your attempt at a prank didn’t work Monday and it’s not going to work now.”

“Well, either way, I’m not free tomorrow, no.”

“Do you even like this guy? Like, in a friendly way?”

To be honest, Kun hadn’t really thought about it.

***

For their “date,” Kun took Ten to a coffee shop, which was the lowest effort thing he could think of.

“I give you a one for creativity,” Ten critiqued, "but I'll accept it." He ordered one of the expensive fancy lattes.

“You’re lucky we’re out here at all,” Kun mumbled when they sat down.

“You think it’s smart to go back on a deal, however informal, with a demon? What would you be doing anyway, just more studying?”

“Sicheng invited me out,” Kun said, matter-of-fact.

“Ah yes, your singular friend.”

“He’s not my only friend.”

Ten shrugged, “You had me fooled, dude.” He stuck his dainty fork in the cake slice he had whined for Kun to get.

Normally, on a date, a date with an actual human person, you would chat, right? Learn things about the other person? Was he supposed to chat with Ten? Ten already knew his basic stats. They had to cover that last week.

“So . . .” he started, tapping his fingers on his mug. 

Ten’s elbows were propped up on the table. He was leaning forward with raised eyebrows and a tilted mouth. He waited for Kun to say anything at all.

He decided to ask something that had been on his mind, “How long are you in my apartment before I get back?”

Ten shrugged, “I dunno. Demons don’t have a sense of time.”

“There are multiple clocks in my apartment, you’ve never bothered to notice?”

“I didn’t think it was that important.”

“I mean, I guess it’s not, but it’s kinda weird, you know, for me, to know that you’re in my apartment when I’m not.”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, I’m not gonna destroy your place. What do you think I’m gonna do?”

“I don’t know, and that’s what makes me nervous,” Kun admitted. He finally picked up his own fork and ate a little of the cake. He had been the one to pay for it after all. “Have you been to Thailand before?” he asked.

“Huh?” Ten didn’t follow.

“That’s where you said you were from last week, to Doyoung and his boyfriend.”

“Oh, right. Yeah.” He didn’t elaborate.

“Alright . . . when?”

Ten shrugged, “Didn’t you hear me just say demons have no sense of time? I have no clue.”

What riveting conversation. Ten didn’t seem interested in asking him any questions in return.

New angle. “What kind of . . . other deals have you made?” Kun tried, “You’ve obviously made quite a few before,” Kun glanced at Ten’s chest and back up.

“You know, the usual. Money, power, revenge,” Ten counted off on his fingers. He scrunched up his face in thought, “To be honest, none of them really stand out.”

“What are some of the . . . consequences, I guess, of asking for those.”

“Future reference?” Ten teased, grin stretching and showing his teeth. Kun frowned. “Pretty by the book stuff, most of it I can condense to ‘give me your soul,’ and most the fools who want any that stuff just go along with it.”

Kun shivered involuntarily.

“Yeah, it fucks ‘em over later, but that’s on them,” Ten scoffed into his drink, “Well, in the future, if anyone asks me that, I can just say this now,” he laughed.

***

They sat in the cafe for more than an hour. Half in silence, half in Kun’s attempts at conversation. He breathed a sigh of relief when Ten had nodded his head when he suggested heading out.

Out of the confines of the cafe, Kun turned down the street back to his apartment.

“Was that it?” Ten asked, voice pitched up and eyebrows drawn together.

“Uh, yeah?”

“That was so boring. We just had some coffee and barely talked.”

“And whose fault was that? I tried,” Kun had a thread left to his patience before he fully snapped.

“Whatever, you just weren’t asking interesting questions,” Ten wrapped around Kun’s arm. Instinctively, Kun wanted to shrug him off, but already knew he would be unsuccessful in doing so. “Let’s walk?” Ten pouted.

So they turned and walked in the opposite direction.

They weren’t far from the river, so Ten led them to walk in the park that ran beside it. They didn’t really talk, even though Ten had just complained about them not talking. 

But . . . it was nice. It was even nicer if Kun gave himself the second to fantasize that he was out on an actual date, and he took peace in the greenery and the other people out enjoying their day.

Ten started pointing out birds. He called them strange or ugly but with more amusement in his voice than actual distaste. He was a conundrum. Did they have birds in hell? Can birds, creatures with no morality, go to hell? Kun almost asked.

Ten had moved on to making fun of people’s dogs, talking low enough that only Kun could hear him, and forcing Kun to focus on holding in his laughter (“that man literally looks like his dog, what the hell”).

When they passed a street vendor, “Buy me some?” Ten whined, “I would steal it, but I figured you would frown at me.” 

Kun did frown at him, just for saying that.

“I wouldn’t care, but I’ll keep you from worrying about it.”

“Ever gracious you are,” Kun rolled his eyes but took out his wallet.

Ten had his ice cream and Kun had his peace. At least, as a demon, Ten wouldn’t get a sugar rush, right?

It was getting later and the sky was turning to golden hour when Kun finally turned them around to head back. Ten stepped away, grabbing Kun’s attention and forcing him to stop. Ten held out his hand. 

Kun hesitated but eventually took it, letting Ten interlace their fingers. Kun swallowed thickly, his whole arm stiff. 

“Thanks for the date, darling,” Ten smiled up at him.

***

“You know, another part of our story was that we don’t see each other that much,” Kun said, looking away from the passage he had been staring at on his laptop.

“Yeah,” Ten eyes were on the drama playing on the TV. He was unbothered.

“And you’re constantly here.”

“Yeah?”

“I thought we were going for accuracy.”

“Believability,” Ten corrected. He still hadn’t looked away from the TV, “and that’s what _you_ said. I’m just playing by your rules.”

Kun stopped trying to talk around it, “What I’m saying is, there’s no need for you to be here, though, in my apartment. All the time.”

“Like I said, dude, hell’s boring.”

“Have you collected any of that stuff yet?”

“Hm?”

“On your list, in the contract.”

“Oh, that. Having so much fun, I almost forgot about it,” Ten laughed. Kun couldn’t find the energy to laugh with him. Having fun doing what? Bothering him? A parchment materialized in Ten’s hand. _The_ parchment? Ten stroked his chin.

“You almost forgot? Is this stuff not actually that important?" Kun asked, not expecting an answer to either of those questions, "What do you even need? Like, blood of a virgin and that kind of stuff?”

“If only it were that easy,” Ten mumbled, “You know how easy virgin blood is to get? Don’t look at me like that, it’s not even anything sexual,” Ten laughed at his concerned face, “If you fuck around with dark forces or whatever, then your blood isn’t pure anymore. That includes you now, darling boyfriend. You have not had virgin blood as of last week, when you made a deal with me.”

Kun didn’t like the sound of that. Would that also fuck him over later? Probably best not to think about it.

“No, it’s things like-” Kun just heard television static, “and-” more static, “and we’ll have to go out of the way to get-” and more television static. Wait, did he say _we_?

“You mean, _you_ have to go out of your way.”

“Yeah, but I might need some help.”

“Help? With, with what?”

“Not all vendors sell directly to demons,” Ten was back to looking at the parchment.

“They don’t sell- so what, _I_ need to buy them?”

“Maybe. Depends on where I can find everything.”

“I’m not getting anything from the black market for you.”

“It’s different, sweetheart, don’t worry about it. I’ll let you know if I need you.”

***

After another late night on campus, when Kun returned to the apartment, Ten was laid out on the couch. He gave no greeting to Kun's return.

Kun couldn’t tell if the demon was sleeping or just had his eyes closed. Ten's loose shirt hung low on his chest, showing off Kun’s handprint under his collarbone. Kun didn’t know why, but he felt the sudden urge to touch it.

He stood over Ten and waited for the demon to say something, but Ten was still. Kun reached out, and as soon as his fingertips hit the brand, Ten jarred. Kun reeled his arm back and Ten rubbed over his chest, face still sleepy.

“Dude, what the fuck. You scared me.”

“Sorry, I-” Kun didn’t have an excuse. He kept his eyes on Ten’s chest. He was mortified at himself.

“Oh, you haven’t realized,” Ten was fully awake now, and an evil grin spread over his face.

“Haven’t realized what?" Kun started taking steps back.

Ten pounced on him.

He got his hand under Kun’s shirt and slid across the handprint on Kun’s side. Kun felt like he couldn’t breathe, like when you’re ticklish and are wrestling with an unrelenting younger sibling. It felt like too long before Kun got out of his grasp.

Kun laid on the floor, breathing heavily. Ten was sitting up beside him, smiling. The demon made a move to poke his side and Kun rolled away.

“What the hell,” he breathed out.

“The brand is sensitive, idiot.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, our bond? You know, some bullshit like that, or whatever. It's powerful, so we're intrinsically drawn to it, to each other's," Ten waved his hand around, "and we're sensitive when the other is near it."

Kun wanted to ask 'why' again. It was the reason he studied in the sciences. He liked knowing how chemicals interacted with each other, about how the body regulated itself. This demon stuff was so over his head. He didn’t like it.

“That reminds me,” Ten said. Kun moved his head to show he was listening. “You’re so touched-starved you can barely hold hands with me,” the demon opened his arms, “We need to work on that. Come here.”

“You’re going to tickle me again,” Kun said flatly.

“Damn, you’re learning my tricks,” Ten laughed and put down his arms. “By the way, you want to join me tomorrow? I’m going to get the first item.”

***

Kun didn’t really want to go with Ten to whatever strange place demons needed to go to get things.

The street they were on was not as creepy as Kun was acting like it was. While there wasn’t anyone about, it was well lit. After all, it was the middle of the day.

For some reason, Kun was surprised they weren’t out during the darkest part of the night.

“You think this . . . shop will just have what you’re looking for?”

“Listen-” Ten said something, the name of whatever they were looking for today, “isn’t that rare, I just haven’t had an opportunity to actually get my hands on it.”

Ten stopped them in front of a welcoming storefront. It looked like a place he would see his mom going into to buy some trinkets. When they entered, he half-expected the interior to suddenly change, or for them to disappear into another dimension.

At least at first glance, it was normal. Not a place he expected them to go to find some demonic material. Ten casually looked at the shelves lined with vials of herbs and liquids. Well, maybe it wasn’t so normal. 

Ten ran his fingers over a crystal display. Kun kept glancing to the store owner sitting behind the counter. She had a book open beside the register, but she was watching them, the only visitors. Kun was convinced she was giving them a weird look.

“You’re the one that looks suspicious,” Ten whispered, not looking up at him but smirking, “You look so uncomfortable,” he picked up a light pink crystal and held it up to the light. 

Kun flicked his eyes to the shop owner once more before casting his eyes to the ground. Ten picked up an obsidian crystal and rolled it in his hand.

What was Ten even looking for?

Kun moved to look at the bookshelf. He spotted a book on daemonology sigils nestled between a vegan cookbook and a tarot reading guide. He should have expected that, truthfully. His fingers twitched. He put his fingers on the spine of the daemonology book but pulled out the cookbook instead.

“Considering going vegan?” Ten asked, looking over his shoulder.

“Not really,” Kun closed the book and looked at Ten, who was holding a paper bag.

“Ready to go?”

“Yeah,” _definitely._ Even though the store wasn't so much _scary_ , he had felt uneasy since they had come in.

“Come again, you two!” the store owner called at them as they went through the door.

Kun didn’t ask what Ten got, didn’t think it was that important to know. He was a little worried Ten would pull out a beaker with eyeballs in it.

He would rather just not worry about demon Ten and his Schrödinger’s eyeballs.

***

The whole week following their date wasn’t that much different than the week before. Kun still would come back late and would find Ten in his apartment. 

But it _was_ different.

They were talking more.

Ten started commenting on Kun’s mood when he showed up in the evening. The insults and teasing became more playful. Kun started talking about his professors and his fellow lab techs. Kun had never been the type to talk at length about things that were bothering him, but he started venting about the readings he barely understood and about the sophomore lab assistant that had ruined a whole day's worth of data. 

Ten would throw in a snarky comment here and there, but he also just . . . listened. Kun didn't know what to make of it. It was different, that was for sure.

Then Ten started showing up on campus.

The first time Kun saw him waiting outside of his lab building, he had stopped in his tracks, awkwardly halting the conversation he was having with one of the undergrad assistants.

“What are you doing here?”

“What, I can’t visit my boyfriend?” Ten sidled up to him.

“Oh, boyfriend?” Chenle beside him looked at Ten hanging onto Kun’s arm and up at Kun, who hadn't yet schooled his face out of his sudden confusion and anxiety.

Ten noticed the boy that had walked out with Kun and narrowed his eyes.

“Uh, well, uh,” Kun replied.

“Well, I still gotta get to class! Nice to meet you Kun’s boyfriend!” and the boy was off. Kun felt his lifespan shorten with the prospect of Chenle spreading news of Kun’s “boyfriend.” 

“Was that the kid you were complaining about yesterday?” Ten whispered, “Do you need me to do anything?”

“Huh? What? No, that’s . . . that’s someone else, don’t worry about it,” Kun didn’t need Ten cursing any of his friends or his fellow lab members. “For real, what are you doing here?”

Ten shrugged, as he did, “Bored.” Kun wondered what didn’t bore Ten.

“I still don’t understand why you’re sticking around. First my apartment, now my college?”

“Like I said, dude, hell kinda sucks. It’s refreshing being up here,” Ten started walking, though still lightly holding on to Kun’s shirt sleeve.

“It’s not troublesome? Coming back up here every day?”

“I actually haven’t been back to hell since you summoned me.”

“You . . . haven’t?”

Ten shook his head, “Travelling to and from the ether takes a lot of energy. It’s really not worth it most the time.”

“Where have you been going then? When you disappear?”

“Just out,” vague, as Ten had a tendency to be. A Ten-dency. Kun snorted to himself. Ten gave him a weird look but didn’t say anything.

“Yet you haven’t been working on your list in all that time?”

Ten shrugged. Kun was learning that that response was more Ten just not wanting to answer.

“You know you're not just wasting your own time, but mine too.”

“Hey! You still have at least one more date you need me for!”

“I can easily say we broke up,” Kun said flatly.

“You wound me,” Ten clutched his chest. Kun squirmed, Ten was still hanging onto him.

“Doyoung hasn’t even messaged me yet, there might not even be another date.”

His phone buzzed.

_How does sun work for you and ten?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just barely made my goal to finish this chapter in a month but editing took me half that time for some reason. gonna have the same goal for the next chapter, I'm moving back home next week so I'm gonna have that 2 week obligatory quarantine, so I should write, right? we'll see lmao  
> not as proud of this chapter, it's an awkward transitionary one
> 
> prematurely estimating a bit over 30k for the final word count :x


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Where did you meet Jaehyun, anyways?” Kun dared to ask.  
> “Oh, uh, Tinder.”  
> “Never took you as the type to resort to dating apps, to be honest.”  
> Doyoung shrugged, “Taeyong all but forced me to make an account. That was a while ago . . . senior year?”  
> Kun’s lips pulled into a line.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> true to my word! I managed this in a month \\(^^)/  
> had a huge drop in motivation along with...all the things going on and have also been working on...other wips....

Kun stared at his phone long enough for Ten to notice and easily swipe it from his hands. 

He typed out an answer before Kun could take it back from him.

 _anything after 2 is fine!_ Already sent.

“Ten . . .” 

“You were taking forever! You work Sunday mornings, right? So you’ll get back by lunch and it’ll be fine.”

“That’s like 4 days away . . .”

 _That was Ten. I actually have to check my schedule, but maybe._ He typed.

“Psh,” Ten tsked, “You already know you’re free.”

“I’m pathetic, remember, leave me alone,” Kun grumbled but erased the message.

As they walked Kun mentally faded out, trying to subside the nervousness that was building in his stomach.

His pocket vibrated again. Doyoung had sent a suggestion for a place to meet in town. Kun agreed without a second thought.

***

“I’m going to get another thing from the list tomorrow,” Ten blocked Kun’s way out of the kitchen, “or, a thing I need for some things on the list. I forget if it’s on there too,” he tilted his head.

“Okay? Can you move? I need to eat before I go back to campus.”

“So you can’t interrupt me.”

“Mhm,” Kun hummed, pushing around him.

“Really. It’s a long, tedious process. I’m serious,” Ten put on a serious face. Kun rolled his eyes.

“Okay? I don’t really care? Are you planning to do it in the apartment or something?”

“Do you still have that charcoal?”

“Yeah, it’s . . . are you going to fuck up my floors?”

“No, your shitty apartment is safe- for now- but you can’t touch this,” Ten waved his hand over his own side. He reached for Kun’s waist when Kun just stared blankly at him. Kun scooted away and finally sat down at the table.

“Why?”

“It’s a quick summoning, sweetheart, like a buzzer. It’ll distract me,” Ten started opening cabinets, “Now, the charcoal, where is it?”

“God- let me get it, just wait,” Kun abandoned his dinner and went to pull out the bag from where he had lodged it deep under the sink. When he came out the kitchen, Ten was picking food off his plate and dropping it into his mouth.

“Ten-” his voice rose.

The whole time between Kun leaving the apartment, finishing his lab shift, working on a lab report, and making it back, he was thinking about Ten calling the brand a quick summoning. He looked at Ten laying on the couch, whose eyes were half-lidded watching the TV.

“Does it work both ways?” he asked out loud.

Ten either didn’t hear him or was ignoring him. Kun watched him another moment, then ran his fingers over his shirt, barely touching his side. Ten’s head immediately turned to him.

“Damn, I shouldn’t have even told you about it, should I’ve?”

“Does it work both ways?” he repeated.

Ten patted his chest a couple times and Kun felt vibrations from every hit. It would explain some of the weird feelings he had gotten from their tussle the other day. He thought. Probably. 

***

Ten wasn’t in the apartment in the morning. Kun did his best to keep his hand as far from his side as he could. Though, getting dressed proved to be difficult. Ten never gave him a timeframe, so he had to assume until he saw the demon again, he couldn’t bother him. 

It had Kun on edge the whole morning. Even Chenle had picked up on his tense mood and had stayed focused on his trials instead of trying to get Kun to joke around with him.

The boy had even offered that Kun could leave early, that he could clean up himself. Kun didn’t bother reminding him that that would be against his lab tech contract. He just smiled and said it was fine.

When his shift was over and he finally got to go get a late lunch, he found the science building’s food court with its lights off and a maintenance sign hanging on its doors. The notice regarding it must have gotten hidden under a pile of other emails in his inbox.

Too hungry for vending machine snacks, he trekked out to the student center food court, where he hadn’t eaten since probably early senior year. He would be pushing it for time, but it was his best option.

When he had his tray and too expensive sandwich, someone called out his name. He turned. It was Doyoung. 

Of _course_ it was Doyoung.

“You want to eat together?” his ex smiled.

The double-date had been bearable, yes, but Kun was convinced it was because they had had Ten and Jaehyun to fall back on to support the conversation. Kun wasn’t so sure about being about to talk to Doyoung on his own.

“Yeah, sure.” But, he couldn’t just refuse.

“I never see you on campus apart from these last couple of weeks,” Doyoung said when they found a table.

Kun laughed awkwardly, “Yeah, I mean, I have been stuck in the labs since I started my senior thesis. The only reason I’m here is because the sci food court is closed.”

Doyoung nodded understandingly. They carried on the small talk for a while, but it was unmemorable.

“You _are_ good for Sunday, right?” Doyoung asked.

“Yeah, I, I would tell you if I wasn’t.” That was a lie, obviously, since he had agreed to the first lunch those couple weeks ago.

“Good,” Doyoung’s shoulders relaxed, as though he had been worried Kun was suddenly going to say ‘no.’ “Uh, Jaehyun really likes the cafe we’re going to. I haven’t been yet, though.”

“Where did you meet Jaehyun, anyways?” Kun dared to ask.

“Oh, uh, Tinder,” Doyoung looked at his hands, massaging his index finger. A nervous habit. Kun had seen him do the same thing many a time when they were undergrads.

“Never took you as the type to resort to dating apps, to be honest.”

Doyoung shrugged, “Taeyong all but forced me to make an account. That was a while ago . . . senior year?”

Kun’s lips pulled into a line.

“But I didn’t use it really at all. Have you ever been on one?”

“Downloaded it with everyone else freshman year, but . . . I also didn’t use it much.” Kun internally cringed, remembering swiping in his dorm room, wondering if Doyoung had it downloaded while he barely looking at the random profiles that popped up.

“It’s so hard to actually talk with anyone on it, especially other gay guys. It’s usually a ‘I’m bored but just want to do something mindless’ kind of thing, you know.”

Kun nodded. What a conversation this was. His first one-on-one conversation with his ex was over a dating app. He shouldn’t have asked.

“It doesn’t mean much, but he was the most charming person to message me. Jaehyun, I mean. So,” he shrugged. “Anyways, your boyfriend also seems nice. He’s interesting.”

Kun wasn’t sure how to interpret ‘interesting.’ It was a fitting word, either way.

“Yeah he’s something else,” Kun agreed, forcing a laugh.

“He seems good for you. I know I’ve only met him once, but, yeah. I like him,” Doyoung smiled again.

Kun wished he could appreciate the validation. Ten _was_ supposed to be playing the part of being good for him. It wouldn’t be worth it if Ten acted like a shitty boyfriend.

“He was a good sport about the other week. I could tell he thought it was weird, though.”

“To be fair, it is pretty weird, to go on a double-date with your boyfriend’s ex. We haven’t talked in ages, in case you forgot,” Kun couldn’t keep the irritation from seeping into his voice.

“I didn’t,” Doyoung did shrink a little at that. “I don’t want it to be awkward between us,” he said after a beat, as if that was enough justification for . . . whatever it was Doyoung wanted it to justify.

It was a little late for that, for it to not be awkward. 2 years too late. They would just be setting themselves up for failure going forward, not addressing the past. Kun was fine with that before, before the date the other week. Before, when he still felt more resentment towards Doyoung than interest in seeing him happy. But now?

“We fell apart,” Doyoung said.

“Sure, that’s what happens when you break up with somebody.” 

“You didn’t contact me either,” Doyoung accused.

“Was I supposed to?” Kun tilted his head.

Doyoung opened his mouth, but closed it and sighed. “I hoped we weren’t going to have this conversation.”

“We never talked through any of this shit. Were you expecting us to just become friends again, just like that?”

“I was hoping this would be put off a bit longer, yes.”

“That’s,” Kun rubbed at his face with both hands, “listen, I’m also not keen on talking about this, us, what was us, whatever, but it’s too strange for me to not at all. We haven’t been friends in years.”

“Yeah,” Doyoung had seemed to sink further into his seat.

Kun could feel everything bubbling to the surface. He still had his thoughts gathered after Ten had pulled them from him the other night. He straightened his back, sat up higher, as if about to start a potential rant, but then checked the time.

“Shit, I gotta get to class,” Kun stood up immediately. Doyoung didn’t look up at him. “Let’s,” Kun drew out, though it was a struggle, “let's talk about this later, okay?”

Doyoung met his eyes and gave some tiny nods. Kun picked up his bag and rushed out.

***

“What’s wrong with you?” Ten asked after appearing in Kun’s living room. Kun was laying on his back on the couch, eyes to the ceiling.

Kun realized he had his arms wrapped around himself, mindlessly rubbing his sides. He clasped his hands over his stomach.

“Nothing,” he murmured.

“Right, whatever you say,” the demon said. Ten awkwardly looked between him and the kitchen table, before taking the chair Kun was usually in. He sat with one leg folded up under him and the sole of the other resting on the seat. There was no way it could be comfortable to sit like that on the shitty wooden chair. 

Kun didn’t care, he was still having his own self-pity session.

“I ate lunch with Doyoung.”

He waited for a quip. It didn’t come.

“We . . . didn’t fight, but . . .”

“You got close?” Ten had draped his upper body over the table.

Kun grunted.

“I’m gonna figure you brought up how he broke up with you and hasn’t talked to you since, until you planned the double-date.”

Kun grunted again.

“Probably should have known better than that, dude.”

“He was just being so casual about it! Like, we’re not childhood friends that just reconnected! I had a crush on him since we met and then got dropped like a class he realized he wasn’t actually interested in.”

“You’re a lot more poetic when you’re upset.”

“Stop, stop distracting me from my wallowing in self-pity time.”

A text came in.

_Are we...still on for sun?_

Kun held his phone to his chest. He was unsure of how to respond, but he didn’t want Ten to take it from him again. 

His phone vibrated again.

_Its okay if not id understand_

Options: say no and they never talk again. Be right back to where they were at the beginning of the year (except, Ten would still be around). Or: face him Sunday and all of its awkwardness.

Kun was older and better than he was 3 years ago, but the way this made him feel made him wonder if he had even grown at all. Ten was still watching him from the table.

“Well, what’s it gonna be?”

“What, can you read minds now?”

“You’re just easy to read, darling, like a children’s book.”

“What should I do?”

“What do you want to do?”

“Curl up and die.”

“Great, problem solved. I’d say go for it.”

Kun groaned into his hands. “I don’t want to go,” he stared at the dark screen of his phone. “I didn’t want to go even before it was awkward again.”

“I know.”

“I didn’t want to go on the _first_ date.”

“I know.”

“I don’t want to go to this fucking cafe on Sunday.”

“ _I_ love cafes, but I know.”

“Do I have to go?”

“No.”

“I have to go,” Kun said, resigned.

“Okay,” Ten gave a final agreement to Kun’s conversation with himself.

Kun turned his phone back on, looked at the text, stared at it for a minute.

“Well?” Ten pushed again.

“I’m getting to it,” he mumbled.

“Literally just say ‘yeah.’”

“I can’t just say ‘yeah.’”

“Sure you can,” Ten mimicked typing on a phone, “like this.”

Kun frowned. Ten pouted, mimicking him.

***

“Taeil’s coming to my place Sunday to play video games, unless you’re busy?”

Kun looked up across the table at Johnny. Sicheng beside him still had his headphones in, zoned into his own research.

It was getting late. Johnny had already packed up his work, the space in front of him clear. He was going to go soon, just waiting for whether Kun would agree to hang out.

“Yeah . . . I’ve got-” he held his tongue, he didn’t want to have to explain how he was going out with his ex and his ‘boyfriend’ no one knew about.

“Oh, hesitation, you got a hot date, Kun?” Johnny laughed. 

He shrugged in response. 

“Oh? You insult me by not sharing?” Johnny placed a hand over his heart.

Kun rolled his eyes, “No, it’s just, a kind of weird situation.”

“You’re safe, right?” Johnny asked, leaning forward, going from joking to concerned like a switch.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Kun waved him off.

“Gonna admit, you’re not really convincing.”

Kun knew he didn’t actually owe Johnny an explanation, but very few of his friends ever expressed true concern for how he was doing. Even Sicheng, who was _just_ on the side of too emotionally constipated to ever explicitly ask. 

“I’m,” he covered his eyes for a second with his palm and sighed, “It’s a double date with Doyoung and his current boyfriend.” He spared a glance beside him; he hadn’t told Sicheng about the upcoming date yet, or his confrontation with Doyoung. He felt bad.

“Doyoung is dating someone? Wait, _you’re_ dating someone? Or have you not met them? Is this a blind date? For you?”

“Yeah, no, Wait,” Kun shook his head. Why did Johnny ask so many _questions_? And _fuck_ , how much should he say about Ten? “Yes to the I’m dating someone, no to the blind date. We’ve been seeing each other for . . . about 4 months.”

“4 months?!”

Sicheng looked up as Johnny got louder. He pulled out an earbud.

“We haven’t been able to spend a lot of time together so it hasn’t been that serious,” Kun leaned forward, whispering.

“Still, dude! We thesis crunch every other week but you never bothered to bring that tidbit up? And Doyoung is also dating again? And y’all are on speaking terms?”

“Yeah? I don’t remember for how long. And again,” he shot a glance to Sicheng, who gave him a false innocent look in response, “it’s complicated.”

“Well, I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised, if _you_ managed to get out and find someone.”

Sicheng snickered. Kun frowned. “Doyoung’s boyfriend is an English major. Don’t you TA for some professor in that department? Maybe you’ve met him.”

“Name?”

“Jaehyun.”

Johnny leaned back in his seat, “The only Jaehyun I can think of is a freshman." Kun shook his head. "Though I wanna know about your boyfriend, what the hell.”

What the hell indeed.

***

Kun finished his final sentence for the night and stretched. From the corner of his eye, he saw someone walking closer. When he actually looked, his stomach dropped.

Since Sicheng had taken off his headphones, he and Johnny had been talking, and neither of them had yet left. He tried to communicate to Ten with his eyes to stop and wait. His wishes were not granted.

“Hey,” Ten said, once he was close enough. 

Johnny spun around in his seat. Dramatic asshole, Kun thought bitterly. He looked back to Kun and then again to Ten and again to him.

“Ahh, is this?” he tilted his head and grinned.

“I’m Ten,” the demon said and stood next to Kun, “Kun’s boyfriend.”

“It’s great to meet you! I’ve heard so much about you . . .”

Kun looked to the ceiling. 

Sicheng was thankfully quiet, simply closing his own laptop. Only once he stood did he say, “Well, I was gonna walk with you to your apartment, but you’re covered,” he directed to Kun, “Let’s go, Johnny, I don’t wanna wait for the bus by myself.”

“Alright, alright. Hopefully we can meet again!” he waved before bouncing off to catch up with Sicheng.

“Ready?” Ten showed his sharp smile.

Kun didn't bother asking why he showed up this time.

***

It wasn't until the next morning that Kun remembered that the other day Ten disappeared to retrieve something. Summon something? Who knew. “Did you get whatever you needed? When you needed the charcoal and me to not ‘bother’ you?’”

“Yep!” Ten said cheerily.

Oh, right, he was also nervous about knowing what these things were. He looked at Ten, mouth half-open, the 'what is it' question on his tongue.

“Aw, not gonna ask?”

“Will it distress me to know?” he relented. He thought about the might-be-eyeballs from the shop last weekend.

Ten shrugged and lifted himself off the couch. Kun braced himself for whatever Ten was about to show him. The demon turned his hand and a knife materialized into it. A dagger, really, the hilt inlaid with gems and a pattern drawn on the blade itself. It was beautiful, but it gave Kun a similar feeling to when he saw Ten (demon-form Ten) for the first time. A kind of sinking ache.

“Cool, right?” he spun it, causing Kun’s anxiety to spike again.

“Ah fuck,” Ten said. Kun caught a glance of his hand as it loosened from around the blade.

“Oh my god,” Kun slapped a hand over his own face. How did a demon cut themselves with their own cursed knife? “Put it under the water. Can’t you make your hand stop bleeding?”

“Magic blade.”

“Of course,” Kun pulled Ten into the kitchen and pulled his hand under the tap when the demon didn’t do so himself. He wiped at the wound, and something burned.

“Jeez, what the hell,” he pulled his hand back. His palm and fingertips were a little red.

“Yeah, you shouldn’t touch that. Demon blood burns humans. And before you ask, yes, that’s both ways too, that’s why the brands work.”

Kun had enough mind to dry his hands before rubbing his face. This was getting out of hand. How many more dumbass demon rules was he gonna have to learn before this was done with? “Okay, clean your hand yourself. I’ll find a bandage.”

When Ten’s hand was covered and the dagger un-materialized, the demon took up his self-designated spot on the couch. Kun opted for the rug between the couch and TV and laid down. He didn’t want to do any work.

“You’re not heading out yet?” Ten asked, looking down at Kun.

Kun shook his head. In a couple hours, yes. He focused better in the library.

“You know, it wasn’t a joke, or, not completely, when I said you were touched-starved. Come here.”

Kun stared at him from the floor, but Ten made grabby hands at him. 

“Really! We don’t read as boyfriends for 4 months. You need to be desensitized.”

With great effort, Kun eventually sat up. He awkwardly moved closer to the couch and let Ten wrap his arms around his shoulders, chin resting on his head. 

“See? This is fine right? Barely a step up from hand-holding.”

It was still weird, but Kun actually . . . didn’t hate it? Didn’t hate the light weight of Ten leaning on him. Didn’t hate how it felt comfortable enough to doze off, if he relaxed enough.

He did. Doze off, that is. He was woken by Ten pushing him up, the demon calling him a nerd and laughing at him to go study. 

Kun didn’t remember if he said anything at all in response, didn't think he did at all, too in shock from being woken and that he had fallen asleep in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another chapter with a sort of mismatch of things, am I trying to do too much worldbuilding?  
> hopefully you'll hear from me within a month again!
> 
> Also if you have money/time/resources consider looking up your local mutual aid fund and helping out  
> 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Don’t ‘of course’ me. I know. Every action I took was the wrong one, starting from letting Doyoung talk to me again in the first place. I’m currently slated for the worst ending in the choose your own adventure book.”  
> “Cut the dramatics, god,” Sicheng scoffed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter lacks in demon hijinks but we'll be back to that soon enough lol
> 
> i dont respond to comments bc im a shy easily flustered gay but i love the appreciation and seeing what people are curious about <3
> 
> this would have been up sooner but i rewatched my favourite drama with a friend who hadn't seen it before and i got reobsessed with it, and so i may have started a fic for that :x

Sunday came. Even though it had only been half a week since the date was planned, Kun felt like he had been dreading it for a month.

Kun was eating cornflakes across the table from Ten. They hadn’t talked that morning, but Kun could tell Ten was in a weirdly good mood. The edges of his mouth were slightly curled up. He wasn’t paying Kun much mind. 

The bandage Kun had wrapped around his hand the day before was gone. He considered asking about the healing capacities of demons, wondered if it would sufficiently distract him.

Ten refilled his bowl again. For the third time.

“You _don’t_ need to eat?” Kun took the box away once Ten had put it back on the table. There were maybe nine pieces left in the bottom of the package.

Ten shook his head, glint in his eye. Mischievous.

“Right,” Kun poured the rest into his own bowl and added cereal to his mental grocery list.

Kun was grateful he had lab duty that morning. He had always been able to lose himself in research. 

Well, he _had_ been able to. The entire morning, as he walked to the lab, recorded data, and listened to the others grumble about their classes, all he could think about was the upcoming afternoon.

What _was_ he going to say? What was _Doyoung_ going to say?

Back at the apartment, pre-date, Kun made a small lunch frying rice with some leftovers. While cooking, Ten came up behind him and leaned over and onto his shoulder. Kun glanced at him. Ten was already dressed up. 

Most of the time Kun only saw him wearing something black, whether a hoodie or the sleeveless shirt from those weekends ago. He didn’t really know the extent of Ten’s demon wardrobe. Today Ten was in a soft yellow sweater. It was different. Cute.

Kun looked away.

Kun waited, expecting Ten to ask when lunch would be ready. Instead, he was hit with, “You gonna try to confront Doyoung today or are we pretending Thursday didn’t happen?”

“I haven’t decided yet,” he stirred the rice more forcefully. 

Ten tsked but didn’t say anything further. Like the morning, it was quiet when they ate, Ten leaving Kun to his thoughts. While that had been what he wanted before, now, it wasn’t so nice. It wasn't until they were outside the apartment that he said,

“So how am I supposed to act, then?” 

“How are you supposed to act? Just . . . act normal, I guess,” Kun pulled up directions on his phone.

“Act normal. You wanna define that?”

“I mean, you know we talked, me and Doyoung. I told you- or, well, you figured it out. Don’t glare at him or anything, don’t be passive-aggressive for my sake, but besides that . . . I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I’m going to wait to see what he chooses to do. If he wants to bring it up today, we’ll talk. The ball’s back in his court, as far as I’m concerned,” Kun kept walking as Ten stopped. The demon had to skip to catch up when his dramatics were ignored. 

“Ah sweetheart, you really don’t make any sense,” Ten shook his head.

“Hm?”

Ten counted off on his fingers, “You say you don’t wanna see him again, but you do. You bring up your unresolved issues with him then want to avoid him . . .” Kun frowned at that, he was out here now, wasn’t he? “You didn’t even know if you were even over him until however many weeks ago,” he pointed his open palm at Kun accusingly. “Now you’re about to see him again, and you still don’t know what to do.”

“You’re supposed to be playing the part of my boyfriend, not insulting me.”

“I _am_ playing your boyfriend. I’m trying to help you by bringing your attention to where you’re struggling in life,” Ten hooked onto his arm.

“Listen,” Kun said, “as much as it might not seem like it, I do want things to be good between Doyoung and I again. We were friends. I did like him,” he kept his eyes on his phone. “He made me upset, but I never hated him. It’s uncomfortable because it’s a sensitive issue for us, but it’s necessary if I do want things to improve.” 

“Wow, so mature.”

Kun gave him a suffering look, “You’re patronizing me again. Can we stop talking about this?”

“Give me something else to talk about, sure. It’s hard when you’re the one who’s been sulking for days.”

“I have not- whatever. We’re going to a cafe again. Are you excited?” Kun asked sarcastically.

“Yes, I am! As long as you buy me a cute cake.”

Ten’s smile distracted him enough that they almost didn’t take the next turn.

***

Like the first time, Doyoung and Jaehyun were already waiting at a table when they entered the cafe. Kun greeted them softly and Ten much more exaggeratedly, donning his preppy personality like a second skin.

When they sat, Doyoung had glanced up, but immediately looked back down at the menu. It didn’t make Kun feel powerful so much as embarrassed. Jaehyun gave them a smile, and Kun could only hope his own wasn’t a grimace. 

Ten leaned over to look at the menu Doyoung had flat on the table. “What are you getting? I’ve already told Kun he has to buy me some cake,” he said, almost conspiratorially. Kun saw a half-smile grow on Doyoung.

“You really like this cafe?” Kun directed at Jaehyun.

“Huh? Oh yeah, it’s . . . not too bad,” he glanced at Doyoung, but his boyfriend was too engrossed over the menu with Ten to notice.

“Any recommendations?”

“Uh, whatever you get should be fine.”

“What are you getting?”

Jaehyun stared blankly at him. He tried to inconspicuously glance at the menu, “A . . . cappuccino?”

Alright. Riveting. Kun was going to be turned off cafes for life if he kept having experiences like these in them. He tapped his fingers on the table, watched Ten and Doyoung. Waited.

Ten pulled on his arm, “I wanna see the cakes in the case. These pictures kinda suck.” Kun let himself be led up to the front. Ten pulled him down to look at the display and whispered, “You need to pull yourself together. It hasn’t been five minutes and you could cut the tension at that table with a knife,” he mimed a knife with his hand.

Kun hummed, hesitant. He didn’t think it was _that_ bad yet.

“Now, get this,” Ten said louder, “maybe I’ll share some with you.” He had pointed at a tall slice of Devil’s Food Cake. Kun rolled his eyes and Ten laughed.

The double-date was ultimately uneventful. Neither Kun nor Doyoung contributed much to the small talk, leaving Ten and Jaehyun to carry the conversation. Neither of their boyfriends acted like anything was amiss. Kun didn’t know if that made it better or worse. Even as Ten called him 'babe' and batted his eyelashes at him, he gave no reaction. He felt a sort of numb the whole time. He hated feeling like this again.

Kun looked up when Jaehyun spoke softly, “Should I head out first?” 

Doyoung was looking at his boyfriend worriedly and started massaging his wrist with his other hand. Jaehyun stilled his hand, held it. “I, uh, I, you-” he glanced at Kun but looked back away when he made eye contact with his ex. 

Ten's fingertips touched the hand Kun had on the seat. Kun didn’t move.

Across from them the other two were still silently having their own standoff, then Jaehyun emphatically tilted his head toward Kun. “I’ll be at your place.”

“Okay,” Doyoung looked down. Jaehyun gave him a kiss on the temple, and he got up and left.

Ten squeezed his hand and finally, Kun looked at him again.

“Can you . . . wait for me?” Kun asked quietly.

Ten smiled. It was a different smile, not the one with the sharp edges and all his teeth, but a softer, almost understanding one. He gave his hand another squeeze, “Yeah, of course, I’ll, uh, stay nearby, just text me?”

And they were alone.

“Do you wanna get out of here?” Kun asked.

“Yeah, let’s.”

Kun offered to cover the bill and Doyoung waited for him outside. Doyoung didn’t look at him when he exited. They walked for a little, looking for a place off the street to take their conversation.

They ended up at a park, of course. What were the odds they’d have this long-awaited follow-up conversation in a similar place to where they broke up? This time, neither of them sat down.

Kun rubbed his face with both his hands, “Alright, how should we talk about this?”

Doyoung shrugged, “You sounded like you were going to go off last week. Where did you leave off?”

Kun didn’t remember. He had been angry - angry and hungry and hadn’t been expecting to have to talk casually with a boy that broke his heart. Now, he was just anxious. “We haven’t been friends in a long time,” Kun finally said.

“I understand.”

“So this whole,” Kun waved between them, “is a bit odd.”

“Yeah, we already covered this,” Doyoung said.

Kun blinked at his flippant voice. “Why are you getting annoyed?”

“I’m not annoyed,” Doyoung crossed his arms.

“Okay, well, it’s been a long time since we’ve been friends. We’re not friends, currently. Two double-dates with our current boyfriends doesn’t make up for 2 years of not talking to each other.”

“Right.”

Kun stood up a little taller. Why was Doyoung acting like this? “We didn’t have a “good” break-up. I’ve lied to almost everyone that’s ever asked about it, saying it was mutual and _fine_ , even though it obviously wasn’t,” he admitted, voice getting quieter. “We don’t- we don’t have to talk about why we broke up, that’s over, but it hurt, you know. We have to talk about that, at least.”

Doyoung finally deflated a little, “Yeah, I know. It did hurt, for me too.”

Kun didn’t voice his skepticism. A second ago Doyoung had just presented him with reminders of the attitude he had during undergrad: standoffish and impatient.

“It was a hard time,” Doyoung continued, “for both of us. We still had a year left but we both had so much shit on our plates.”

Kun stayed quiet.

“Sometimes it was hard to be with you because you take- took- too much onto yourself. It felt hard to talk to you because it seemed like you would either make too big a deal or wouldn’t really care. It was hard to figure out what you felt. And it didn’t seem like it mattered even if I could.”

That was . . . that was more than Kun was prepared for. Doyoung’s eyebrows were curved outward, a sign of distress, but his voice was seeping into that monotone Kun wished he wasn't familiar with.

“It was too much for me then. I couldn’t tell what you wanted.”

“So you ‘spring’ the idea of breaking-up on me?”

“You just agreed! And that was it.”

“What are you saying by that? You broke up with me,” Kun pointed at him, “You had already taken all of your stuff out of my apartment! How was I not supposed to take that seriously?”

“I wanted you to fight a little more,” Doyoung looked like he was trying to tie his fingers into knots. “But you didn’t! So I figured that it was for the best.”

“What was I supposed to fight for? After you shut me down? What kind of convincing was I supposed to do?”

“Shut you down? You already seemed like you were on shut down, all the time. And now, you keep saying we’re not friends! So, I get it!”

“Doyoung, that’s not the point I was trying to make-”

“This is why I didn’t want to talk about it. I’m- I’m heading out,” Doyoung talked over him and turned away.

“Doyoung . . .” Kun called out, but he didn’t stop.

Kun finally sat down. He sank down low enough to lean his head back on the top of the bench. Had the two of them actually been a bad fit and Kun had never noticed?

Kun was a quiet person, had always been quieter than his peers. Was generally the quietest among his friends.

Had he actually been distant? Did he not give Doyoung the chance to feel appreciated in the ways he wanted to be appreciated? Had Doyoung been on eggshells around him? Had he felt like that around Doyoung? What actually went wrong?

His fingers twitched and he reached for his side. In a second, Ten appeared beside him.

He took one look at Kun and, “It didn’t go well.”

Kun shook his head.

“This is what you get for being unprepared. ‘Oh, I’ll take his lead.’ Yeah, the last time you did that you had to summon me.”

Ten was right.

“I know. I fucked up.” He turned his head finally to look at Ten, “Our problems were . . . deeper than I realized.”

Ten was close, thighs not quite touching. Kun stared at Ten’s hand but didn’t reach for it like he suddenly wanted to.

“Can you distract me?”

Ten gave him a weird look.

Kun faced back forward, “Just, talk about something else.”

Ten stared at him, then faced forward as well. “I guess . . . I don’t know, hm. I’ve been putting off doing the list.”

Kun moved his head sharply.

“It’s been nice,” Ten continued, "being world-side again. We’re not up here, can’t be up here, unless we’re completing a deal.”

“At all?”

“I mean,” Ten tilted his head, “not really. Not easily. Even once we are up here we’re restricted to the limits of whatever our contract is,” Ten mimicked the shape of a box with his hands. “Trying to go past that and do anything at all is _exhausting_. But since yours wasn’t like, something I enacted right then,” Ten shrugged, “I can take my time.”

“So you made the list so you could do as much as you want here? Is the list just nonsense?”

“No, that’s not what I said. I just said I’ve been putting it off. Do you have no respect for me?” Kun didn’t answer. Ten hit his arm. “No, it’s not just random junk. Well, most of it. It is stuff I need- want- whatever. Me getting to be up here and chill is just a benefit.”

“How much have you gotten so far?”

“Just the one.”

“Just one?!” Kun sat up properly.

“Yeah, from the shop.”

“Yeah, I figured 'from the shop,' but the knife? What about when you’ve gone out?”

“The knife doesn’t count. I need it to get something else. Somethings else.”

“Mhm.”

“Ready to get rid of me? Now that there won’t be future dates?”

“I’m gonna fix it. Also, I asked you to distract me and you bring it back to Doyoung?”

“So you’re not breaking up with me yet?” Ten smirked.

It was Kun's turn to hit his arm.

***

“You have a desk in here?”

Kun turned in his seat, “Yeah?”

Ten was standing in the doorway to his room, arms crossed, “Then why are you always in the living room?”

“The light out there is better, and the dining room table is better to, you know, spread everything out when I have a lot of papers.”

“Then why are you in here today? Your desk is tiny as shit.”

Kun shrugged and turned back around. He had cleared the books and papers off it recently, but it was true: it was inconvenient to work at. His bed creaked.

“Excuse me,” Kun said, not yet looking over.

“Excused,” was mumbled to him.

Kun turned and saw Ten laid out, face to the sheets. “That’s my bed. Haven’t you already claimed the couch?”

“You’re isolating yourself in here. I’m here to support my boyfriend,” Ten lifted his head up and gave him a smile.

“Isn’t that against your nature as a demon?”

“Rude,” Ten flopped back down and yawned. When Kun didn’t turn back to his work Ten eventually glanced up. “Damn, just let me chill here. I’m giving you moral support,” he held up a fist. “And I’m tired. Your refusal to talk at the cafe made me have to produce so much bullshit. Our stories are gonna stop aligning if you turn off like you did today.”

Kun shook his head but let Ten lay.

He switched between his email, social media, and youtube for more than an hour. The short conversation with Doyoung was still circulating in his head. It made him want to analyze everything about himself and their relationship from those couple of years ago. Ten too had just said he had shut off earlier, did he do that often? 

He got ready for bed. When he finished washing up, he expected Ten to be back in the living room or just gone. He wasn’t. He was still laying on Kun's bed.

“Ten. Ten!” he called from the doorframe. The demon didn’t rouse. He moved to beside his bed, said “Ten” a little bit quieter. 

Kun _could_ sleep on the couch, but he didn’t have any extra blankets. Also, he shouldn’t have to. This was his bed and his apartment and Ten was a demon that he was 99% certain didn’t need to sleep.

“Ten, come on.” 

Ten rolled to the edge along the wall.

“There’s room for you,” he murmured, not looking up.

“This is my bed and you don’t need to sleep.”

“Yeah, and?” Ten blinked at him annoyed.

Kun faced Ten’s sleepy face a little longer, more out of principle than anything. He slipped under the covers slowly, as though expecting Ten to do something. The demon didn’t move besides shifting to allow Kun to pull up the sheet.

In the morning, Kun woke up alone, no demon in the apartment. Kun had no reason to bring it up when Ten reappeared in the evening, and he let Ten pull him to the couch after dinner and let him wrap his arms around his shoulders like he had the week before. Kun didn’t say anything about any of it.

***

“I’m going out!” 

Ten didn’t always make the effort to tell Kun before he disappeared from his apartment, but it wasn’t unusual. Something about the tone was different today, though.

“Where?” Kun called back.

“Out,” Ten’s voice was closer. Kun turned; the demon was leaning on the doorframe. Ten was dressed up, but different from the weekend’s date. A crop top mock turtleneck, black jeans with rips from the knees up, a loose multi-piece harness, and a frankly absurd amount of jewelry on his ears. The cross necklace he had seen before was resting on his chest.

“Okay,” Kun said, and turned back to his laptop. Ten didn’t move from the door.

“That’s all you’re gonna say?”

Kun turned back, “Yeah, was I supposed to say something else?”

“I was hoping you’d compliment my outfit, darling,” he motioned down at himself.

Kun pursed his lips and pretended to give Ten’s clothes careful consideration. “You can be disappointed then,” and he turned back around.

He heard the demon huff behind him, and then there was nothing. Kun waited exactly five minutes, blankly staring at the boring antibiotics article he was supposed to be reading before checking over his shoulder again.

Ten was gone.

***

“What’s wrong?” 

Kun had been at the library with Sicheng for less than fifteen minutes. “What do you mean?”

“I haven’t seen you for a couple days, you blew off getting lunch with me earlier, and I can almost physically see a dark cloud over you. What’s the deal?”

“Don’t get mad,” Kun tip-tapped his nails beside his laptop's touchpad.

“Mad? What did you do?”

“I got a text to go on another date with Doyoung and his boyfriend last week.”

“Okay . . . for when?”

“Yesterday.”

“Oh no, Kun . . .”

“What? I haven’t even told you what happened,” Kun pouted.

“I can already tell it’s bad. I’m dreading it,” Sicheng covered half his face.

“So we scheduled the date, that was fine. But, then I met Doyoung, not intentionally, mind you, in the cafeteria.”

“Okay . . .”

“And we had an almost-fight about the fact that we broke up and aren’t friends.”

“Which means?”

“I pointed out that it’s weird to talk as though we didn’t date for two years and then didn’t talk for the same amount of time.”

“Right. And when was this?” Sicheng had put his hand down.

“Uh, Thursday?” he was hit, “Ow!”

“I thought I was your best friend, and you didn’t tell me earlier? Am I being replaced by your fake-boyfriend?”

“I didn’t bring it up because Johnny was around! I’m not interested in airing my problems out, thank you.” Kun whispered harshly.

“A text would have been fine,” Sicheng grumbled, “but continue.”

“We talked after the date-” 

“You still went on the date?” 

“Yes, shut up, we had another confrontation after the date and it was also bad.”

“Of course,” Sicheng rested his head in his palm and regarded Kun.

“Don’t ‘of course’ me. I know. Every action I took was the wrong one, starting from,” Kun tried to count off the weeks on his fingers and gave up, “letting Doyoung talk to me again in the first place. I’m currently slated for the worst ending in the choose your own adventure book.”

“Cut the dramatics, god,” Sicheng scoffed, “What are you gonna do now? Is this, like, _over_ over?”

“No, I’m gonna fix it.”

Sicheng blinked at him, “With what? Real relationships are not trials in the science lab, Kun. There are some things that are better to let go.”

“Support me, would you, Sicheng?” Kun whined.

“Of course I support you. I just don’t want you getting more hurt than you already are, or have been,” he said emphatically.

Kun appreciated it, he did, but he couldn't say that after all the time he spent not pitching a fight, he felt like he owed one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i would apologize for overusing ellipses and weird dialogue formatting but i won't  
> kun and doyoung's relationship was not intended to be this whole thing lmao, tbqh i wasn't expecting it to be such an overarching issue and i deadass thought they would just be friends at this point lmao. this was supposed to just be a silly fic about kun and his demon not(yet)-boyfriend and this happened
> 
> also i can't stop listening to turn back time someone help
> 
> consider donating to:  
> [Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund](https://www.navajohopisolidarity.org/)  
> [Third Wave Fund](https://thirdwavefund.giv.sh/96cd)  
> or your local mutual aid fund


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Damn, Ten,” Sicheng peered around Kun, “you look nice.”  
> “Don’t compliment him, he’s already conceited,” Kun said.  
> “I have reason to be,” Ten posed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> had a lot of this already written before last week so here's an earlier than usual update!

“Okay, I’ll bite, wh-”

“You bite?”

“Stop,” Kun shot Ten a disproving look over his bowl of noodles. “I was going to ask why you were dressed up the other night.”

“I thought you didn’t think much of it. You didn’t compliment me,” Ten said, raised eyebrow challenging.

Since the date- before the date even, Ten had been glowing. But, while he had been cheerier, he hadn’t been troubling Kun or really talking that much at all. What had been consistent chatter had dwindled to almost nothing. It left Kun back in his head. He needed the distraction of demon hijinks again.

“Went to the club,” Ten finally answered. He pushed his empty bowl at Kun and stood up with a stretch. Kun picked up their dishes and Ten followed him to the tiny kitchen.

“You went . . . to the club?”

“Yeah.”

“You can do that?”

“Why wouldn’t I be able to do that?” Ten leaned onto the counter beside the sink.

“Well,” Kun tossed his head this way and that way while he waited for the water to get hot, “You did just recently tell me you can’t do things that aren’t relevant to the deal.”

“That’s not _exactly_ what I said, and how do you know the club isn’t relevant?”

“Uh, is it?”

“I’m going to go again,” Ten swerved the question.

“Right.”

“You wanna come?”

“What? To the club? With you? I’m good, thanks.”

“Aw,” Ten threw arms over his shoulders. Kun leaned away, unable to push him off with his occupied hands. “You’re not worried about me all on my lonesome?”

“No?”

“Darling," he drew out, "come with me.”

“Are you trying to invoke another date deal out of me?”

“No, but we could arrange one if you’d like?” 

“I’ll think about it,” Kun murmured. Ten finally let him go and bounced back to the living room. That night’s drama was already on. Kun wiped his hands to join him.

***

It wasn’t late yet. Not _late_ late, anyways, not as late as Kun had been staying at the library a month prior. It was late enough, though, that on a normal day, Sicheng would have already left him, either for his part-time job, or simply because he couldn’t handle waiting for Kun that far into the night. 

The next day Sicheng had a meeting with his thesis advisor. He was still there at the table with Kun because he was barely going to make his expected word count. 

The chair in front of Kun was pulled back. It was Ten.

Sicheng looked up too, but when he saw Kun’s fake-boyfriend he gave no other reaction, just went back to being hunched over with his face too close to his computer screen.

Ten smiled at Kun. Kun tapped his fingers on the sides of his laptop before closing it. Sicheng did take out an earbud at that.

“You heading out?”

“Yeah.”

Sicheng threw a glance to Ten, “Alright.”

“Oh, right,” he had his laptop halfway between the table and his bag. He put it back down in front of him, “I said I would read what you wrote tonight, didn’t I?”

Sicheng waved him off, “I’ll just send it to Johnny. He said he could review it for me too, don’t worry about it.”

“Sorry,” he said, shoving his computer into his bag, “if he doesn’t respond you can still send it to me.”

Sicheng considered them, “So, what kind of things have you two been doing together? Kun told me you were going on dates now, just you two.”

“Not that much. We might go to the club soon,” Ten said happily.

“I never-”

“You’re actually going clubbing?” Sicheng raised his eyebrows at Kun.

“I hadn’t decided,” he mumbled.

“Which means he’s open to being convinced to,” Ten winked at Sicheng. Sicheng didn’t acknowledge it. Kun was grateful for the little things - he didn’t know if he could handle the potential headache that would be Ten and Sicheng getting along.

“Can I come? You haven’t gone out since . . . well, you never have with me.”

“That’s not true,” Kun argued. “Pre-graduation. You got blackout drunk and I had to cart both you and Yuta to my apartment, and then had to deal with your hangovers.”

“You went with us that night? I thought we had just called you to pick us up.”

“You ditched me pretty early on. You had to call me because you two had ended up at a different bar across the street without telling me.”

Sicheng snapped his fingers, “Oh, right.”

Kun sighed. Ten was amused, but it was Kun’s turn to ignore him.

“So, can I come? As long as it’s soon, I wanna go out after all this,” Sicheng leaned back in his seat and gestured at his laptop. 

Ten smiled, of course. He was getting what he wanted.

***

Kun fruitlessly tried to smooth out a stray wrinkle in his shirt, restless and doing a bad job at hiding it. “This isn’t going to be like, a spooky demon bar is it?” he asked. 

Ten was standing close to the mirror in his room. His eyes flicked over to Kun through the reflection, “‘A spooky demon bar.’ Please elaborate.” With a wave of his hand, his lower eyes became lined and his temples and cheekbones glittery.

“Like, a place where demons meet up, or something.”

“Did you miss it when I implied we can’t live up here?” Satisfied, he stood up straight and swept his hands down his lacy clothes, “It doesn’t work like that. It’ll be a normal human bar, doesn’t even matter where, so don’t get so worked up about it.”

There was a knock on the front door.

Sicheng said, “Ready?” instead of ‘hi’ when Kun opened the door. He was dressed more appropriately for the club than Kun was, but certainly not as much as Ten. He had in hanging earrings Kun never saw him wear on campus.

“Yeah, let me grab my phone.”

“Right here,” Ten handed it to him.

“Damn, Ten,” Sicheng peered around Kun, “you look nice.”

“Don’t compliment him, he’s already conceited,” Kun said.

“I have reason to be,” Ten posed.

Sicheng didn’t give an acquisition or a denial. He looked Kun up and down, “Are you not even rolling your sleeves up?”

“It’s chilly,” he defended.

“Then grab a jacket, damn. Put it in coat-check.” He pinched Kun’s shirt between his fingers, “We’re going to a club, not 8th grade formal.”

“Let’s just go,” he pushed the other two boys out of his apartment. Otherwise, he was going to chicken out.

Waiting for the Uber on the sidewalk, Ten had started talking to Sicheng. Kun’s phone vibrated.

A text. 

It was from Doyoung. 

He swiped it away and turned all his notifications off. He’d read it later. 

Despite saying he was gonna figure out how to salvage what might be left of their friendship, he hadn’t actually gotten very far. He had spent more time just mentally distancing himself from the weekend before. It was all such a hassle. For tonight, he was not going to think about it too much, for once. Well, he’d marinate in it for the Uber ride, he could allow himself that.

When they arrived on the street with the brunt of the gay-friendly bars in the city, Kun hadn’t made it much further than just out of the car when Ten instructed, “Hold still.” Ten pushed his hand through Kun’s fringe, making it stand a bit, and then adjusted his part. “Better,” he nodded to himself.

*******

Once they got into a popular club with a long bar and a wide dance floor, Sicheng was already moving to where the brunt of people was dancing in the middle. “You’re not going to get a drink first?” Kun held onto his arm. 

Sicheng shook his head, “You think I’m gonna pay for a drink myself? In this economy? I’ll wait until someone tries to woo me.”

“Cocky,” Ten said. Sicheng shrugged and was off. “I do want a drink though,” Ten wound their fingers together. Kun was dreading having to pay for expensive drinks at a club on top of all the extra groceries and trips to cafes he had to cover over the last month. Instead of telling Kun what to order for him, he said, “Check this,” motioning to the bar and sliding a hand over the countertop.

“Could I buy you a drink, doll?” Almost immediately some man had shown up next to them, someone a little sleazy with too greasy hair.

“Make it two and go ahead,” Ten leaned over onto the bar a little, seductive. Kun couldn’t see his face from where he was on Ten’s other side, but he could imagine the face and the pointy grin he was certainly showing off.

Two shot glasses were pushed in front of Ten, and he promptly handed one of them to Kun. The man had a stare-off with Ten for a couple long seconds before sneering and walking away. Kun kept his eye on him until he couldn’t see him anymore.

Ten clinked the glass he had picked up with the one still on the counter in front of Kun. He threw his head back. Kun followed suit before Ten could heckle him about taking it, or before he could drink it for him.

Kun didn’t leave the bar, and he was surprised Ten hadn’t already left his side, just looked out as he was. He could occasionally spot Sicheng when he danced close enough to the edge of the crowd, never too long with one person, if with anyone at all.

He spared a glance at Ten. In this light, he looked different. Even in the dingy lighting at his apartment Ten was striking, but something about the flashing rainbow and UV lights and the fit of his black shirt made him both blend into his surroundings and stand out at the same time.

When he looked up to his face Ten was staring back. “What?”

“Your vibes are bad.”

Kun scoffed, “Excuse me? Do you even know what that means?”

“Do you?”

Kun regarded him, then turned around to the bar and ordered a drink.

“I’m just letting you know,” Ten laughed. He spun to face the same direction as Kun and knocked their shoulders together. “It’s just a bit distracting, you know, the energy.”

The energy. Right. Whatever that meant.

“I’m going in,” Ten tilted his head out to the throng of people. Kun nodded in acknowledgment and Ten gave a kiss to the air at him. Kun made a face.

“You’re not going to kill anyone, right?” he asked before Ten disappeared.

Ten didn’t answer.

“ _Right?_ ”

“Not _kill_ ,” he rolled his eyes.

“Ten . . .”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“What are you- fine, whatever, I don’t want to know. Just please don’t kill anyone. I don’t want to be questioned later.”

“No promises!” he waved his fingers with a smile, “but I’ll try.” 

As soon as he was out of sight, he heard, “He ditch you?” Sicheng.

“No, it’s- well, you know. I don’t really like dancing here.”

“Shots?” Sicheng turned to get the bartender’s attention, “I’ll pay.”

“Thought you weren’t paying if you could get someone to do it for you.”

“I’m feeling generous tonight.” He tossed back the shot when the bartender pushed them to him, “I made word count and my advisor didn’t call my draft garbage, so I’m celebrating.”

“That’s great, Sicheng,” he pushed his vodka cranberry to Sicheng to chase the tequila.

“Ugh, don’t congratulate me about school while we’re here,” Sicheng shook his head, “this is a school-free zone,” he made a cutting motion at his neck.

“Sorry, it’s about all I know,” Kun laughed. What would on a normal night sound sad was funnier with two drinks in his system. 

***

More than an hour or two had passed when Ten sauntered back to Kun who was still along the bar. Kun was talking to someone, or, talking as much as you could when the music was loud and the lights were low. Kun hadn't actually caught his name when he said however long ago, but he was thin and light-haired, and just interesting enough that Kun didn't mind talking to him. 

“I’m back,” Ten basically purred, immediately taking Kun’s arm. 

Tall, blond, and handsome raised an eyebrow at him.

“Sicheng’s still out on the floor if you want to dance with him,” Kun said down to Ten.

“I’m good, sweetheart,” he murmured, smiling, lethargic. Could demons get drunk?

Blond man gave him a little salute before walking off. Kun was a little disappointed.

“Sorry, were you trying to get it?” Ten didn’t sound sorry.

Kun shook his head. Ten let go of him and leaned back with his elbows on the bar, let his head fall back. Kun stared.

”Dance with me for a little while?” Ten gave him a softer smile.

Kun didn’t want to, but he followed Ten nonetheless. He was getting tired, and by the looks of it Ten was too, or some demon equivalent of it. Where was Sicheng; was he danced out yet? Kun let Ten wrap arms around his shoulders. He was standing close, but not too close- not so close that it would make Kun even more overwhelmed. 

The little bit of distance allowed him to notice the people that were glancing at Ten. One or two people he caught full-on staring. Kun’s hair stood on end.

“Evil attracts evil, you know,” Ten pulled himself closer.

“Are only bad people attracted to you?” Kun risked another glance up and around.

“I don’t know. You tell me, darling.”

Kun didn’t understand what Ten meant. He had trouble understanding a lot of what Ten said, really. “Should I be nervous? Is something bad going to happen?”

Ten shook his head. “I still have the residuals of all the energy I used earlier. It's enticing, no?” Kun couldn't tell. Ten looked like Ten, felt like Ten. Kun kept his eyes on him when Ten pulled back part of the way and swayed them side to side, just a bit. He pulled Kun down. “Are you really always this boring? Even at the club?”

Kun started to move back and away. Ten kept his arms around his neck and laughed.

“Aw babe, come back.”

Sicheng appeared beside them. Flicked his eyes between Kun and Ten. Kun’s hands were frozen on Ten, positioned ready to push him off.

“Are we moving to another club, or what?”

***

Kun was in his room. He had his laptop open, had one earbud in catching up on music, and going through texts he hadn’t answered. Sicheng had sent him a reminder for the CSU meeting next week. Kun was pretty sure he wouldn’t make it, but he wrote it into his schedule anyways and forwarded the reminder to his mentee. There was another offer from Johnny to hang at his apartment with some other grad students. One of the kids in the lab group chat asked if they had left their jacket during their shift Wednesday.

He heard soft footsteps and the creak of weight on his bed. He took his time facing Ten. He was on his side, watching, waiting for Kun to tell him off. Kun looked back at his phone. 

“Are you . . . relaxing?” Ten asked.

“Mm,” Kun hummed.

“Who are you and what have you done with Kun?”

“You’ve seen me relax, asshole. I started taking walks and I’m watching,” Kun leaned back, looked up, “three dramas with you.” Kun tapped his fingers on the back of his phone and agreed to show up at Johnny’s next week.

“Not to this extent,” Ten flopped onto his back, stretched, “you’ve gone on a date and to a club in the last week and you’re not freaking out over how little time you have.”

Kun’s finger floated over the message from Doyoung. He turned off his phone, “I’ve done my readings. My thesis is on track. My advisor even told me I was further than he expected. I can’t do any more research until next week.”

He slid his phone onto his desk and left the room to take a shower. Now that he had been out to more than just campus and the grocery store, he was aware of how much he had been longing for meaningful interaction. Even the meaningless was shining for him now. 

It was odd. A good odd.

Ten blinked at him when he was back by his bed. He was more awake than he had been the last time he took up space there. He was the most awake he had been since they had come back from the club. Ten’s recuperation time wasn’t that different from a normal college student staying out half the night, it seemed.

He pulled the comforter up and Ten slid to the side.

“Not even gonna try to convince me out today?”

“Too tired, Ten.”

“Opinions on snuggling?”

“Opinions on- absolutely not,” Kun said into his pillow.

“If you trusted me, would we cuddle?”

“Huh? If I- what?”

“If you did trust me. Would cuddling be on the table?”

Kun moved his head and narrowed his eyes. He turned out the lamp.

“I am impressed,” Ten started, despite Kun implying it was time to sleep, “that you do have a personality that isn’t, you know, solely defined by your school work and your inadequacies anymore.”

“Thanks,” Kun said sarcastically. 

“Still not sure you have more than two friends, though.”

“Do you even have friends?” Kun faced him again, “Demon friends? Do you go for demon brunch on the weekends?”

“Time doesn’t work in hell, remember,” he flicked Kun’s forehead but was smiling. Kun could somehow see his teeth glimmering in the semi-darkness. “Yeah, I guess. There are some I get along with. I’m not sure what ‘demon brunch’ looks like.”

Kun folded back into his pillow. Let silence fall before he asked, “Do you miss them?”

Ten hummed in thought, “Not really. There’s not a lot to bond over, you know, besides the suffering of humans. If I told them about this they would laugh at me for barely getting anything done. ‘How inefficient, what kind of demon am I?’” his laugh was soft, subdued.

“Well, my life has been more difficult with you in it.” It was a weird sentence to show his sincerity on, but it felt important in the moment.

“Thanks,” the demon smiled, teeth glittering, “that means a lot.”

***

The text from Doyoung was still waiting for him.

_I want to apologize for going off on you. I don’t think I let you say what you needed to or wanted to. That wasn’t fair. Then I walked off. You can ignore this if you want, I’d understand. But I would like to talk again._

_I miss being friends._

“Oh, you actually bought chips!” Ten called from his daily rummage in the kitchen.

“You were complaining about me never having any,” Kun defended, not uncurling from leaning over his phone.

“Who’re you texting?”

“No one important.”

“Ah, so Doyoung.”

Kun didn’t think and just typed. Then threw down his phone and sat like he hadn’t been doing anything at all. “No.”

Ten coughed on a laugh. “You wanna talk about it?”

“Not yet.”

“Okay. Distraction? I wanna watch a movie.”

Kun hooked up his laptop to the television and Ten chose a movie that someone had uploaded on Youtube. Kun sat down while Ten was making sure it was set to the best quality and adjusting the screen. When it was set up Ten finally stood and turned off the main light.

He sat beside Kun on the couch, but the title screen hadn’t even passed when he moved to half-sit on Kun’s lap, legs thrown over the other half of the couch. Kun didn’t really have any time to react to it. He pulled Kuns arms around him. “Now, I’m not getting off you until you relax.”

“I am relaxed,” but even he knew that was a lie.

The movie dragged on and Kun was becoming sleepy. He had his fingers clasped together, one arm resting on Ten’s thighs. Ten was still lounging over him, warm. 

“You want me to get up now?” Ten asked, voice soft. The credits of the movie were rolling.

Kun hummed as a response, but it didn’t really have a meaning. He didn’t move and didn’t complain when Ten didn’t either. Ten leaned his head to rest on Kun’s shoulder, eyes closed.

Kun shifted and Ten opened one eye to look at him, but Kun only wrapped his arms tighter around Ten’s hips, fingertips barely brushing the edge of the bottom edge of Ten’s shirt. Ten closed his eye again and let out a silent sigh.

Kun shoved his arm under Ten’s shirt, palm running over Ten’s skin from his stomach to up to Kun’s handprint.

Ten jumped off him like an unhappy cat, “How dare you,” he hissed, rubbing over his chest.

Kun just smiled and stretched.

He was able to ignore the warmth in his own ears when Ten’s face was the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is it really a uni au if theres no club/party scene? it can be, but we while we're running through the tropes might as well hit this one too lmao
> 
> if you read this far into the notes have a link to a [thing](https://ramblesofawannabecoolkid.tumblr.com/post/616917585149280256/writing-a-story-w-a-demon-boy-so-i-had-to-draw-him) i drew based on how i described Tens club clothes last chapter  
> 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten posed before he realized that wasn’t really a compliment. “Kun, why are all your friends mean?”  
> “You bring it upon yourself.”  
> “Hey! I didn’t choose to be a demon.”  
> “You didn’t?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my current approximation for chapters is 11 so we getting close :0  
> so i implied in chapter 1 that theyre in korea and proceeded to make this uni schedule and set up very american but! its fine, w/e

The halls were mostly empty. Since undergrad midterms had ended, students had cleared out of common spaces and many were reluctant to get back to the constant cycle of school work.

Ten was walking close to him down the corridor.

“Do I need to give you constant reminders that you have things you’re supposed to be doing?” Kun said, less as a question and more as a statement.

“I thought you weren’t trying to get rid of me yet,” Ten smiled at a stray underclassman that greeted Kun as they passed, “Is there a flea market around here?”

“A what?”

“A flea market. You’re not rich enough to not know what that is.”

“Yes, I know what a flea market is. Why are you asking about one?”

“I wanna go! Might be something good there, you know?”

Kun was getting better at dealing with the seemingly random changes in topic Ten would make. In this case, he had to read between the lines and assume that people at thrift sales may unknowingly be getting rid of occult items. Maybe. He hoped that was what Ten was trying to get across.

Ten implied a lot of things and rarely elaborated even when he was asked to. From the start, Kun had been hesitant about asking for the specifics of what Ten needed. He didn’t even know if them going to the club had actually been for anything at all, much less if it was successful.

Putting trust into a demon probably wasn’t the best, but it was all he could do. He had come to accept that, at least.

When they were about to round the corner into the lobby, Kun stumbled back and pushed Ten to the wall, out of sight. Kun still had enough of a vantage point to be able to see Doyoung. He had been walking closer but had curved away to the hall on the other side, looking at his phone, oblivious.

He wasn’t afraid of Doyoung, but that didn’t mean he wanted to talk to him. Or even _chance_ talking to him. He was dealing with it.

When he looked down at Ten, the demon was looking up at him with wide eyes. Kun realized what kind of position he put them in a little too late, with his hand by Ten’s head, standing close. They weren’t any closer than they had been at the club, but this was also during the day, in bright fluorescent lights, with no alcohol.

The two seconds Kun sustained eye contact with him felt like two minutes. When Ten moved his head, Kun felt his stomach jump into his throat. But instead of forward, like Kun was bracing for, he looked to the side and was able to see Doyoung before he disappeared. 

Ten pushed him back and laughed, “You’re a loser. You still haven’t talked to him.”

“I’ve messaged him,” was Kun’s weak excuse. 

Kun was in a haze as Ten walked him to his lab, when Ten responded to the cheery greeting Chenle gave him when he saw them at the door, and as he went through the motions of his routine at home. 

Ten was on the couch, unbothered. Kun had conflicting impulses to stare and to avoid even glancing at him. Ten was picking individually wrapped chocolate candies out of a bag. Kun kept a lot more sweets in the apartment these days. 

There were a lot of things different about these days, and they weren’t just Kun’s lifestyle and study habits. He let himself be distracted from the horrors of grad school, not just by his hobbies, or by his friends, but by Ten. He let Ten hold his hand. Every other evening Kun sat on the couch and listened to Ten yell about the dramas they were watching together. Ten's laugh didn’t make him nervous anymore, and more often than not was a sound that made Kun smile. Kun let Ten stay in his bed.

He was lighter these days. Happier.

The full realization hit him over the next day. While with Sicheng, he actually said, out-loud, “I want to ask him stupid questions, like, do birds go to hell?” (Sicheng had followed-up with, “Dude, I have not been able to follow along with a single thing you’ve said recently.”)

He had gotten emotionally invested in Ten, a demon from Hell. He _liked_ Ten. Legitimate ‘I wish he was my actual boyfriend’ like. How could he have let this happen?

He must have just become entranced, infatuated with a boy (or, a creature with the appearance of a boy) that was giving him attention. That had to be it. That was all it could be. That was all Kun could handle it being.

He would soon enough disappear, and Kun would graduate and either find another boy he could build an actual, real relationship with or be stuck in science hell the rest of his life and die alone.

What a shame.

“You’re sulking again.”

He turned his head. Ten was sitting on the floor, face much too close. Kun blinked at him, “Huh?”

“You only lay on the couch like this when you’re having problems. What’s it today, darling?”

Kun frowned.

Ten pushed a finger between Kun’s eyebrows, “You’re gonna get wrinkles like that. Relax your face.”

Kun made his face fall into something neutral. He faced the ceiling again.

“Aw, come on babe, talk to me.”

“About what?”

Ten snorted, “You tell me not to patronize you, yet . . .”

“It’s nothing important.”

“Of course not,” Ten agreed, “Nothing about your life is important. Don’t get upset, you know it’s true. Nothing about your existence matters and nothing about my existence matters. So what’s the point of bottling everything up like you do?”

“I don’t know,” Kun admitted.

“How were your friends? I can’t imagine you won any games,” like that, he changed the conversation.

He was right, Kun had been shit at video games since he hadn’t spent money on a new console since he was in high school. It hadn’t mattered though. Kun sank back into the couch cushions, not quite as tense as he was, “It was nice. I hadn’t hung out with any of them for a long time.”

When he had gotten to Johnny’s apartment he had been able to put aside his worries in favour of chilling out and catching up. But then Johnny had brought up his “boyfriend,” and he had to tell his lie to Taeil and Sehun, and it brought it all back to the forefront of his mind.

His dampened mood must have been evident enough, because somewhere in between turns of Mario Party, Taeil asked quietly, “You okay? You seem kind of out of it.”

Kun had shaken his head, “Yeah, I’m fine. I guess my seminars are getting to me.”

Taeil had made a sympathetic hum, but something about his eyes told Kun he wasn’t convinced, and that if they weren’t with others he would press more.

Kun was dealing with it in his own time.

Later that night, when Kun was already in bed, he was the one to roll to the edge along the wall. Ten laid down without a word.

“It’s not true, you know,” Kun said.

“Hm?”

“That I don’t matter. Maybe I don’t to the world, to the greater human race, to God, to Satan, or whatever. But I matter to my parents, I matter to my friends,” he continued on, “and you, you matter to me, right now.”

Ten was at a loss for words, and under other circumstances that would be reason for a celebration. At least Kun was too tired to actually be embarrassed. 

He fell asleep.

*** 

There was someone on the sidewalk struggling carrying some large boxes. Kun started to jog over until he saw who it was. He only hesitated for a moment.

“Do you need some help?”

“No, I-” Doyoung went quiet when he realized it was Kun. “Yes, actually. Can you grab the top box?” He bent his knees so Kun wouldn’t have to get on his tiptoes, “I’m going this way.” They didn’t talk as they walked to the Social Sciences building, and neither of them said anything until they were in the elevator when Doyoung complained about the professor who instructed him to get the boxes of dossiers. 

Kun let him grumble. When Doyoung set the other boxes outside a professor’s door, he put the box he had been holding on top of the stack.

“Uh, thanks.”

“Yeah, no problem. See you around.” Kun had already turned away and was paying too much attention to not walking too fast to hear the “yeah, bye” Doyoung got out.

***

“You hadn’t shown up to any CSU meetings since last year. I was surprised you even came. You even went out with everyone after,” Sicheng took a large sip of the bubble tea he had snuck into the library.

“If someone tells you to get out because of that, I’m not going with you,” Kun said, “and I had invited Renjun to study with us, so it was only right that I wait for him.”

Kun hadn’t been active in the Chinese Student Union since maybe sophomore year, back when he had more time. Last year, when he had been approached by some of the senior students trying to establish a mentorship program, he had agreed to be part of it. Kun considered himself lucky to be paired with Renjun.

The underclassman’s bouts of school-related panic were intense, but rare. To be honest, Renjun was the most functional art student Kun had ever met. For the most part, at least. Whenever Kun visited the apartment he shared with his friends, it was bereft of food but not of mess. Kun would occasionally be convinced to cook for them by the whining that only under-twenty-year-olds were allowed to do.

Renjun still had a couple gen-eds he was finishing, so Kun would invite him to work with him and Sicheng when he could.

“I’m pretty sure you’re one of the only mentors that actually studies with your mentee.”

“Should I be insulted by you complimenting our work ethic? You can invite yours too, you know.”

Sicheng scoffed, “Yangyang would not come to the library with us,” and he left that at that, for a while. Kun had actually written a whole page before Sicheng spoke again. “Oh, hey Renjun, have you met Kun’s boyfriend yet? Or his fake-boyfriend, I guess.”

Kun gave him the flattest look he could.

“Oh, right, it’s not supposed to be common knowledge he’s not actually your boyfriend, is it?”

“What are you on about?” Renjun only now looked up from his laptop.

“Have you introduced him to Ten?” Sicheng directed at Kun.

“Ten? Ten what?” Renjun asked.

“That’s Kun’s boyfriend’s name.”

“You have a boyfriend?”

“A fake boyfriend, I just said this.”

“A _fake_ boyfriend?”

Kun heaved a sigh, “It’s a long story.” He didn’t understand why Sicheng had brought it up.

“He usually comes to pick Kun up when we’re here too late.”

Kun was about to argue, but . . . the little clock in the corner of his screen hit eight and Ten rounded the corner. Upon approaching, he leaned on the back of Kun’s chair. Kun had to turn to look up at him.

“Why are you here so late? I wanna eat,” he poked the back of Kun’s shoulder.

“It’s not that late, and I’m only half done with this paper,” he said, but was already shutting his laptop. He looked across at Renjun, whose eyes were staring above him at Ten. “Yeah, uh, Renjun, this is Ten. Ten, this is my mentee, Renjun.”

Ten tilted his head and gave a smile and a little wave, “Hiya.”

Renjun gave him a short nod.

Kun saw a lot of himself in Renjun, who was quiet around people he didn’t know. The acknowledgment was a little too curt, but Kun put it to him trying to wrap his head around the man behind Kun being his boyfriend. Fake-boyfriend. Whatever.

He saw Ten give Sicheng a fist bump in his periphery. “Alright, let’s go. I’ll see you guys around!”

The text came in when they were already back in Kun’s apartment. Ten had the TV turned on and Kun was looking through the fridge for something to make dinner out of.

_Im coming to your apartment when im done with this draft_

_Okay?_ he texted back. Odd. Maybe Renjun was on the cusp of one of his quarterly breakdowns. Should he make cookies?

While he was laying out the premade cookies on the tiny sheet, Ten came over and leaned in from the doorway. He took one and popped it into his mouth.

“Hey! Those aren’t good for you!”

Ten raised an eyebrow and continued to chew.

“Besides, these are for Renjun.”

“Who?”

“Renjun, my mentee. You just met him at the library.”

“Oh, the kid who couldn’t stop staring at me? You know, your friends are weird, and that coming from me . . . anyways, why does he get cookies and I don’t?”

“First, you don’t need to eat. Second, he’s coming over later.”

“Having a friend over is a reason to make cookies? You really are lonely aren’t you.”

Kun ignored the jab, “I think something’s wrong. He doesn’t come over that often.”

It was getting late; it was almost 10:30. Ten was laying upside down on the couch, still watching whatever it was he had turned on earlier. Kun had been serious about his own paper not being close to done and was sitting on the floor with his notes spread around him. Too often did he have to bat away Ten’s hands trying to bother him by shuffling his papers.

When Kun responded to a knock on the door, he found a Renjun that was not seemingly on the verge of a panic attack. His eyes did dart to the plate of cookies on the table when he caught the warm smell of them, but he focused back on Kun immediately.

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah, of course,” he stepped to the side. Renjun stood perfectly centered between the couch and the table and looked at Ten, who hadn’t moved from the odd way he was watching TV.

“Oh good, you’re here,” Renjun said.

“He can leave if need be,” Kun said.

“Oh, that wasn’t sarcasm.”

“It . . . wasn’t?”

“This is why I wanted to talk to you,” he motioned at Ten. He leaned on the table next to the plate of cookies and took two. Kun looked between his mentee and his demon not-boyfriend. Ten just shrugged at him. Between chews, “Why did you summon a demon?”

Kun froze. “Aha, did Sicheng tell you that?” he laughed awkwardly.

“I could tell.”

“You could tell? Tell what? What do you mean?”

Renjun huffed out a breath, “Yeah, and I just could.”

***

“Okay, run that by me again,” Kun rubbed a hand over his face.

“He’s a witch, Kun, keep up,” Ten said.

“I am _not_ a witch, thank you. I just . . . have an interest in and maybe dabble a bit in the occult.”

“That’s what a witch is, idiot.”

“Okay,” Renjun relented, “I’m a witch.”

“Just for reference,” Ten stage-whispered to Kun, “his blood is also non-virgin.”

“Ten-”

“I already told you, it’s nothing se-”

“Alright, whatever,” he talked over Ten’s trying to talk over him, “okay, so, Renjun, you can tell Ten is a demon?”

“Yeah.”

“How?”

“Uhhh, their energy?”

Great, more of this energy bullshit.

“Oh Kun, just because you can’t sense energies doesn’t mean they’re not there,” Ten chastised.

“I know. I get it. It’s fine.”

“He talks like that when he’s not fine,” Ten stage-whispered again, this time to Renjun, who nodded and took another cookie.

At Ten, Kun directed, “Could you tell he was,” he waved his hand toward Renjun, “a witch, or whatever?”

“Well,” Ten considered, “since I know now, yeah, sure, I can tell.,”

Renjun gave Kun a look that said he thought he got the dumbest demon in the lot.

“It’s not like I can see symbols above his head or anything like, oh, this is a witch, or whatever the fuck. I feel things a lot all the time. If I don’t think it’s important I’m not gonna worry about it.”

“You haven’t answered me yet,” Renjun said. “Why is your fake-boyfriend a demon?”

“Ask Sicheng.”

“Sicheng is in on this?”

“It was his idea,” Kun mumbled, “but he doesn’t believe Ten is actually a demon.”

“How? I mean, look at them.”

Ten posed on instinct before he realized that wasn’t really a compliment. “Kun, why are all your friends mean?”

“You bring it upon yourself.”

“Hey! I didn’t _choose_ to be a demon.”

“You didn’t?” Renjun tilted his head.

“Uh, no?”

“All the demons I’ve met choose to be.”

“Renjun, how many demons have you met?”

Renjun waved Kun’s question away.

“That’s not all of us,” Ten crossed his arms, pulled his feet up onto the couch cushion, legs up to his chest. 

“Have you made a deal with a demon before, Renjun?” Kun affected what Renjun and his roommates called his ‘dad-voice.’

Renjun stared back at him, unmoving, like a kid thinking their parent would forget they asked a question if they just didn’t answer.

“Renjun . . .”

“Don’t ‘Renjun’ me,” the boy pouted, “you’ve also made a demon contract, haven’t you? That’s what this is, right? And of course I’ve made a deal before, you’re not really a witch until you have,” Renjun now flaunted the witch title with pride.

“What, what was it?” Kun almost didn’t want to know.

“I kept it small. I knew what I was doing,” he defended.

“Which was?”

“If any of the dishes in our apartment are dropped, they don’t break.”

Ten whistled, “That’s interesting, getting a demon to charm your apartment,” Ten said, “stakes are pretty low.”

“Jaemin had broken half our plates and like two cups in less than a month. It seemed like a good choice, for my first time.”

“What was the cost?”

“Virgin blood.”

“Oh my god,” Kun groaned.

“I knew it was a possibility, so I had saved up some of my own.”

“You- _what_?”

“So _now_ my blood wouldn’t work, but since I drew it before the contract, it was still fine.”

“That’s smart,” Ten turned to Kun, “Your mentee’s smart. I don’t think he got it from you though.”

“So it wasn’t a big deal. And what about yours?” Renjun challenged, “What’s this then? How long is . . . Ten going to be here?” Freshman Renjun that didn’t practice witchcraft respected him so much more. All youth becomes corrupted.

“Uh,” Kun looked to Ten, “we don’t know. There isn’t really a timeframe?”

Renjun’s chewing slowed.

“Well, until what?” he looked to Ten again, thinking it over, “until Ten finishes collecting some stuff.”

“How much stuff?” Renjun narrowed his eyes. The demon pulled the contract out of thin air and handed it to Renjun. The boy’s eyes bugged out.

“Kun, holy shit, this is a lot!”

“I can’t read it!” Kun’s voice rose with Renjun’s

Renjun let go of the parchment and it disintegrated.

***

Renjun had left with his questions only partially answered and the cookies completely eaten. Kun had all but pushed him out, telling him to catch the last bus before it was gone, and told him everything was fine and under control. Even if that control wasn’t his own. 

Ten stood by his bedside after Kun had cleaned up and turned in for the night. Kun patted beside him but Ten hesitated for a long minute before laying down.

Kun’s eyes were closed when Ten spoke quietly, “I used to be a human.”

He matched Ten’s volume, “Really? Is that how it works? What’s the criteria for becoming a demon?”

Ten’s shrug rustled the comforter. “I don’t know. I don’t know what they were for me, I mean. I’ve seen humans trade their humanity for the bullshit immortality that being a demon includes, but they retain their memories, mostly. All I have is some vague knowledge that I was, at one time.” He went quiet. “I think I died.”

Kun chewed on his tongue. He turned onto his side and opened his eyes.

“Maybe I was a shitty person, or maybe it’s some dumb chance shit where every 1000 deaths becomes a demon. I don’t know.” 

“No one talks about it?”

“No. What would there be to talk about?” Ten’s voice tightened, “Any human life we may or may not have had doesn’t really mean anything now, does it?” 

In the dark Kun’s eyes flickered over the outline of Ten’s face, between where he thought his eyes were. 

***

During the weekend, Kun took Ten to a flea market he had discovered after searching about it online for half an hour. Ten had been back to normal since the moody night he had after meeting Renjun, but Kun had felt as on edge as he had the first week Ten had been around.

“Oh, this is perfect!” Ten held up a blue glass bird.

“It’s cute, I guess.” Kun didn’t know if there was some strange energy imbued in it or if Ten just liked it. “Is it like, cursed?”

“What, this? Oh, no. It’s completely worthless,” he put it in Kun’s hand.

Kun had a stare-off with Ten before pulling out his wallet. He was trying to get the vendor’s attention when he saw someone familiar crouched on the other side of the mat.

Ten pulled on Kun’s shirt sleeve; he was also looking at Doyoung, “Well, you haven’t run away yet, but you still haven’t talked, have you?” voice a murmur.

“We’ve talked.”

“ _Talk_ talked?”

Kun walked over in lieu of an answer, incidentally bringing Ten with him. “You come here often?”

Doyoung almost dropped the porcelain plate he was looking at.

Kun felt the most calm he had around Doyoung since literally more than two years ago. With a few spoken admissions of past pains and a few texts of past faults between them, with Ten on his arm, and with Doyoung caught off guard looking at novelty plates, Kun reveled in the situational advantage. Right now, he didn't feel bad about it.

“Not very,” Doyoung stood up, brushed his hands off. “A nice day for it, today. It’s not too cold.”

Kun almost wanted to invite him to get something to eat with them, but of things he had learned from the recent sporadic interactions with Doyoung, he knew the best option was to take this as slow as possible. “It’s our first time here. Ten wanted to know what kinda stuff there would be.”

Doyoung nodded and licked his chapped lips in the pursuing silence.

They left the vendor with a wave from each of them. Ten scoffed under his breath at him, smirking when he glanced up at him as they went to the tents and mats on the other end of the lot. 

Small as it was, it was progress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when i started writing more fic a couple years ago i told my friend that would write a kabedon into every fic, and im not one to half-ass jokes lmao, luckily including that actually made the following scene make more sense  
> another joke i made with them was one of the items ten needs if just something absolutely and completely worthless, so i wrote that too  
> i feel weird about having characters that have cameos with no purpose so you get to keep seeing little flashes of chenle at the lab haha also even though kun is a cheap grad student pretend he has a convection oven bc the boy likes to bake sometimes


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “He’s kind of an asshole.”   
> “You don’t like to admit that you can be too.”   
> “I don’t know if he’s capable of love.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> got a little carried away with some of these scenes so this chapter is a bit longer!  
> Im glad people liked renjuns intro, I had been sitting on the scene for a while so I had been looking forward to posting it

“Are you going to get groceries today?”

Kun hadn’t even taken his jacket off when Ten accosted him at the door. “After lunch, yeah.”

“Cool,” Ten moved away and sat on the back of the couch, “Change up the snacks, would you? We’re out and I’m getting bored with what you choose.” 

Kun rolled his eyes, “Alright, new rule, anything I’m not getting to eat myself I’m not going to buy unless you pick it out yourself.” Buying chips for your in-home demon was nothing to stress over, but Kun would still find himself staring at snack bags for 5 minutes. He didn’t have time for that.

“Okay,” Ten stood up, “Let’s go.”

Oh. He was agreeing. 

“After lunch,” he ruffled Ten’s hair as he passed. Ideally, Ten would have scoffed at Kun's attempt at an ultimatum, and Kun wouldn’t have to worry about buying him things. Yet, he came along, fake-gagging when Kun thumbed over the bananas.

“Stop that,” Kun chastised, “let me shop in peace.”

“If you wanted peace, you shouldn’t have invited me along.”

Kun nudged him, “Go find the snacks then, if being in the produce section traumatizes you so much. And only one thing!” He called as Ten hopped off.

It was easier to shop without Ten’s commentary, but maybe it wasn’t as fun.

Ten reappeared with a bag of spicy potato chips. They were in a flavour Kun hated. He extended the basket but Ten didn’t drop them in.

“You don’t like these,” he said.

They stared off for long enough that an older woman cleared her throat to force them (as in, force Kun, because Ten did not care) to move out of the way. “It doesn’t matter,” Kun pushed the basket toward him again, “You’re the one that eats the junk food.”

“You eat it too! Don’t think I haven’t seen you.”

“I wouldn’t, if you didn’t.” It was a weak argument, but he raised his eyebrows, waited, still holding out the basket.

“I’ll get something else,” Ten bounced away once more. 

Well. 

Ten constantly chattered about the displays or other customers as they passed. Kun could only hope no one heard him. Kun liked this supermarket, and he didn’t want to worry about coming back and having middle-aged women glare at him.

“You don’t need to hold onto my arm in the grocery store, Ten.”

“I don’t, but I can, can’t I?” as always, he smiled up at him.

And later, “Let’s go, I said I would buy things for you, but I didn’t mean _everything_ you wanted. Put that back. Hurry up,” he pressured Ten to put the container of ice cream back into the freezer, “I have something to do later.”

“Oh, you have plans? Unusual.”

“What’s unusual about that?”

“You know,” he gestured at Kun, “you may do more than just study these days, but, yeah, you know, you. Also, you over-plan. I’m surprised it’s my first time hearing about it.”

“Didn’t think I needed to bring everything up with you.”

Ten just shrugged, cocked a grin and an eyebrow, and reattached to Kun’s arm on the way to the checkout.

***

Ten watched him as he left, chin resting on arms crossed over the back of the couch. He didn’t say anything, but he lifted a fist in solidarity. 

Kun would be lying if he said it didn’t give him the slightest bit of strength.

Kun was bringing this dancing around Doyoung to an end. A couple months ago, hell, two weeks ago, he would feel sick doing this. Now, it wasn’t so bad. He found Doyoung sitting at the bus stop closest to his apartment. 

“Have you been here long?” he asked.

Doyoung stood immediately, “No, just a minute, would have been rude to be late, wouldn’t it’ve?”

Kun nodded and they started walking. “How was your weekend?”

“Fine,” Doyoung hefted a shrug. “Was supposed to interview someone for my thesis research, but they were sick. Yours?”

“Good. I’ve just been marathoning movies with Ten when I’m out of the lab.”

“Sounds nice.”

The small talk faded. They kept walking, not really going anywhere.

“Okay,” Doyoung said. Kun saw him square his shoulders in his peripheries. “I think every time we’ve had this conversation, we’ve been on different pages.”

It was easier like this, walking, not facing each other.

Kun hummed, “Maybe. I think we’ve been on the same page, but our interpretations of the text, on the other hand . . .”

“You know I hate that poetic bullshit, come on. Are we sure you’re not a literature major?”

“Sorry,” Kun said, not actually embarrassed. He was past that point. “Is that why we didn’t work out?”

Doyoung gave a half-hearted chuckle, “If it was, do you think it would have required us to have this conversation three times?”

“What was it, then, that went wrong?”

“It’s weird to talk about now,” Doyoung huffed, “Everything seems so insignificant now. Anything you or I did I barely even remember.”

“But both of us remember enough that we couldn’t talk to each other after.”

“Yeah. I mean, I still remember the feelings. It’s just hard to pin the reasons I feel, felt, like that.”

“I liked you a lot.”

“I know.”

“I had had a crush on you since orientation.”

“I know.”

“The break-up caught me off guard,” Doyoung was about to repeat ‘I know’ again, like playing the audience in a call and response, but Kun plowed through, “but I know it shouldn’t have.” 

Quiet. Kun’s glance over showed him Doyoung chewing on the corner of his lip. No verbal agreement, but certainly no denial either. 

“There was never much space for you to leave things in that student apartment anyways, but I didn’t notice anything amiss. We hadn’t been spending much time together.”

“We were busy.”

“We were distant.”

“Yeah, we were.”

“We didn’t even try to make it work.”

“That’s the hindsight of it, isn’t it?” Doyoung breathed, not quite a sigh, but audible, “I look back at high school and feel like I didn’t even try, but I know I did. I remember staying up all night trying to study, even then.”

“We need to stop comparing our relationship to school,” Kun snorted.

“Fair enough, but I’m trying to make a point. I’m trying to defend us, both of us, this time. We did try, just . . . maybe not enough, maybe not in the right ways, not in the ways that mattered, in the end.” 

Kun let Doyoung’s words fall and float away before asking, “How have you been, actually? No pretenses or facades, have you been well?”

“Yeah, I have,” another breath, more relieved this time, “I hadn’t been lying about that, but it feels like I have, if that makes sense.”

“It does.”

“Senior year sucked. I was always drained, from school, life. Luckily I at least had Taeyong to check up on me. Last year was better, it felt like a new start,” Doyoung smiled, “And you, honestly this time?”

Kun looked away and down, “It’s been okay. I’ve already mostly blacked out senior year, I think. Last year,” he stalled, “wasn’t much different, besides that I got to quit my campus job to work in the lab. Not awful, but not like, great.”

“And now?” Doyoung’s voice had gone soft, unsure again. 

And now? “Now is better. Much better.”

“Good, I’m glad. You deserve good things, even if you don’t think you do, didn’t, sorry.”

“You can talk about me in the present tense, Doyoung, it’s okay.”

“I know, it’s just . . . weird, I guess. I know we’ve technically been talking since early this semester, but I’ve known we hadn’t become friends again.”

“Maybe we could.”

“You think?”

“I can hope. This is a start, isn’t it?”

They continued walking. 

Kun dared break it with, “Just to get it out in the open, for future reference maybe, do we dare open old wounds and talk about what it was, back then? Do you remember?”

Doyoung contemplated for a while, “We were distant, like you said. You were always on edge, which was manageable as underclassmen, but it got worse and worse by the time we, you know. There were times you would overdo things, and other times you would get overwhelmed and it was impossible to talk to you. I never knew when I would get the in-between. You were always out of it, and I didn't know what to do.”

“I hadn’t figured out how much I was supposed to care, about anything. School, you.” 

“It seemed like a shitty thing to call you out on, and I didn’t want to make a fuss. I didn’t want to argue over it.”

They never did, technically, until this year. 

“Okay your turn,” Doyoung stood up straighter, pulled his shoulders back again, “Lay it on me.”

Kun shrugged, “I was more upset that I was caught off guard at the end. We were dating and suddenly we weren’t even talking. You yourself weren’t the easiest to talk to. Conversations with you were more like debates, and I wasn't as good at expressing what I thought as you were."

“The never-ending cycle of failed communication."

“We both lacked in that department, didn’t we? Then, the other week, you said you had wanted me to chase you? After all that?”

“Yeah, it was shitty of me, but that’s what I felt, then. It doesn’t make sense, I know. It’s embarrassing to think about.” Doyoung rubbed his face.

“The first week was the worst. We were never on the same parts of campus, but I remember dreading seeing you.”

A quiet, “Yeah.”

“When we crossed paths at the beginning of the semester, it almost felt like a fever dream. If I had had the opportunity to actually think, I probably wouldn’t have agreed to a meet-up of any kind.”

“I want to admit that-” Doyoung trailed off. He bit the inside of his lip, scrunching his face in the process. Kun waited as patiently as he could. “I panicked, that day. The double date wasn’t a good idea, I knew that even then, but I was nervous about talking to you again. I wanted to know how you were, but I didn’t want to talk to you alone.”

“Still, a double-date? With our current boyfriends?”

“Listen, I was surprised you agreed, or- that you agreed and didn’t just ghost me, or pretend to never be available. Then I got cocky after the first one went so . . . cordially.”

They stopped walking. “I’m sorry I made you feel like you had to break up with me to get me to show emotion.”

Doyoung cleared his throat, “I’m sorry for not being someone you thought you could show emotion around,” he said, voice still a little wet.

“But, both of us found someone to learn these things with, right?”

Doyoung looked away and Kun would take the small smile as agreement. He had said it as a throwaway statement, something to move from just focusing on them and their failings, but it was still true. As much as Ten wasn’t actually his boyfriend, Kun had grown a lot since he had come into his life.

That being said, he was lying to a growing number of people about his love life.

One thing at a time.

***

Back in the apartment, Ten was in a baggy short-sleeved shirt, arms extended in front of him. His arms were covered in the dark handprints.

Kun had forgotten how they all looked when they weren’t hidden away. Ten was reminiscing, Kun could only assume. He leaned over the back of the couch, “Something wrong?”

Ten hummed, “I just don’t get to look like this that often. They don’t show up as well when I’m, you know, not looking like a human.”

“Do all demons look like this, when they, you know, are looking like a human?”

“Not necessarily,” his arms fell to his lap. He pulled up a sleeve and looked at his shoulder. He pulled on the collar of the shirt to look at his chest. Kun looked away. “Some do, kinda, but brands don’t have to be handprints, that’s just what I do. I think it looks cool.” He took the chance while he was twisted in his seat to look at Kun, “Glad it went well, but your eyes are still a little red.”

“Shut up,” Kun rubbed them again.

Ten patted to the cushion beside him and the handprints once again faded. Kun dropped onto the couch and Ten pulled him down so he was partially leaning on Ten’s sternum. Ten’s arms wrapped around his shoulder.

Ten’s hand slowly, slowly slid to his side. Kun rolled off the couch, more for the effect of being dramatic than because he was surprised by the electric shocks that shivered through him.

“Got you!” Ten laughed, and if Kun looked at his smile just a little too long, Ten didn’t say anything.

***

“You’re getting a crush on your fake boyfriend aren’t you.”

“Excuse me?” Kun chest tightening up. 

“You’re stressed out.”

“I have plenty of reasons to be stressed out, thank you.” Was that one of them? Sure, but Sicheng didn’t need to know that, and he certainly didn’t have reason to think so.

Sicheng counted off on his fingers, “You love your major too much, no one in your family’s fallen ill, unless you’ve kept that from me for some reason, so you must be worrying over something stupid, thus. . .”

He was right that it was a stupid problem. It was Kun’s own fault- summoning a demon then falling for his charms. “Yeah, it’s dumb,” he sank further into his seat, folded his arms onto the table and laid his head on them.

“Ugh, stop,” Sicheng made a face, “I’m not trying to shame you. You should just talk to him about it.”

“I can’t.”

“You’re a weeny.”

“Mature insult. You’re really hurting me here.”

“Suck it up. Really, what’s the problem? Literally just say you want to real-date him.”

“I really can’t. He’s not interested in a relationship, and . . . it wouldn’t work out.”

“Has he said that? That he’s not interested?”

He hadn’t, but it should be a given. Even if he was (something Kun couldn’t even imagine), once the deal was complete he would go back to hell. Kun didn’t think he would be able to handle that kind of long-distance relationship. 

“He’s not in a place to be in a relationship. That much I do know.”

Sicheng stared at him slumping on the table, “This is a fanfic trope. You are literally playing into a fanfiction trope right now. Multiple ones.”

“You read fanfiction?”

“No, but Yuta does, so I have to listen to him talk about it. A lot. Too much,” Sicheng shook his head. 

“Your own fault for sharing an apartment with him,” Kun pulled himself back up and went back to reading.

“You’re avoiding the topic,” and after a few seconds of silence, “You’re not saying it wouldn’t work because of the whole ‘demon’ thing, right?” Sicheng did finger-quotations while saying the word ‘demon.’

“That’s a factor, yes,” Kun highlighted a line that wasn’t really that important. Ten being a demon was _The_ Factor, actually.

“Get off your bullshit, talk to me.”

“I’m talking to you right now, at the expense of me being able to read this thoroughly.”

“Tell me, what are the actual reasons you don’t want to, besides him being a ‘demon,’” he did the finger-quote motion again, “You’re my friend, and I care about you and I want to support you, as much as you’re trying to keep me from doing so.”

“He’s kind of an asshole.” 

“You don’t like to admit that you can be too.” 

“I don’t know if he’s capable of love.”

That was the first time he had said it out loud. In a chart on negative things about Ten and the implications of dating him, Kun at first would only write demon. The many subpoints under that would include a likely enormous age gap, the return of Ten to hell at the end of their deal, and the doubt that demons got to experience real positive emotions, at least the ones to the extent of love.

“That’s bullshit.”

“You already said that,” Kun said, defeated.

“Do you actually pay attention when you talk to him? He’s kinda weird about it but he’s definitely into you too. I don’t know what you two have been up to, but he’s helped you a lot, I think.”

Kun couldn’t meet his eyes.

“I called you out for being stressed because the last weeks you haven’t been, really, not like you were. The change started when this weird ploy did. He’s interesting, different. You and Doyoung, as a couple, no offense, were so boring.”

Kun snorted.

The thing was, it didn’t matter. 

A lot of things in Kun’s life were receiving closure. He’d have his Master’s degree soon. He had made peace with Doyoung. Everything else was just routine. The unpredictable part was Ten. When would he leave? What did he still have to do? As much as he was around now, he shouldn’t be for much longer; it had to come to an end at some point.

Maybe Ten could feel love and that would be great, but it didn’t take away from the impending temporality of it. Most relationships aren’t meant to last forever, but having an actual deadline . . . that was just unsettling.

***

Now that he wasn’t sitting on texts to Doyoung, he now had more time to worry about Ten. Talking to Sicheng had felt good, but his words had only confused Kun further. Kun could understand why Sicheng would think Ten would be worth taking the leap of faith for, but that was part of the play, wasn’t it? He and Ten did get along when it was just them, but was it real care? What were Ten’s motivations? 

Kun couldn’t even distance himself from Ten to check. He couldn't conduct a useful qualitative analysis without a control.

Ten was plastered to the window when Kun entered the apartment.

“Are you watching the neighbors?”

“They’ve been struggling to get that couch through the door for an hour. It’s almost stopped being funny to just being sad, but it’s still funny.”

Kun looked over Ten’s shoulder across the street. He had seen them yelling at each other when he had come back, but didn’t think he would be of any help. Ten leaned back onto Kun. Kun froze, but he didn’t move. Ten just snorted when one of the neighbors dropped the end they were holding on their foot.

“You’re not using some demon magic to make this worse, are you?”

“No, this is just normal human stupidity. I can taste their frustration, delicious,” he smacked his lips.

“God you’re so weird,” Kun nudged him off.

Kun just wanted more, so much more. Ten already knew so much about him, had become privy to so much of his life, whether it was something Kun intentionally shared or not.

Kun understood so little about Ten.

Ten called hell boring, but Kun would say the same of his own hometown, so if Ten actually talked about it, would his voice turn fond? Kun wanted Ten to share something for the sake of sharing it, not to just distract him to make him feel better. Was he allowed those glimpses?

What had Ten said before, trust?

“Oh, check this out.”

“I hope you’re not about to pull another knife on me.”

“Not this time. I got another thing, look!” Ten held out his hands and two vials appeared. Innocuous enough, compared to a variety of grotesque things Kun could imagine. “Holy water and _unholy_ water! I was able to get both today. I went back to the store with the nice woman. She finally got her hands on some for me.”

“What does that even mean, and how did you pay?” Kun only then remembered he hadn’t paid for Ten the first time either.

“I have my ways,” Ten didn’t answer his first question, “ _and_ she told me about someone with -” whatever Ten said just filled Kun’s ears with static, “He’ll be in town tomorrow. Come with?”

“Why should I?”

“Maybe I just want you to.”

Kun couldn’t really argue with that.

***

Considering how uneventful the other times Kun had gone out with Ten had been, he hadn't been nervous this time around.

Maybe he should have been.

It was daytime, and Kun followed Ten down an empty road to a closed shop front. Ten knocked on the metal cover. They stood there in silence for long enough that Kun was ready to ask if they could go, or at the very least if Ten could just wait by himself.

The screeches the door made when it rose grated on his eardrums.

The man on the other side was fat but had a bony, gaunt face. He flickered his eyes between the two of them, eyes side to side and up and down. He gave Kun the creeps, and he hadn’t even said anything yet. 

Ten spoke first, “I was recommended your wears, fine sir. Were you perhaps called about this visit?”

The man’s studious eyes relaxed and he nodded. “Quite so. You must be looking for quality to come to me.”

“Of course, other aspects pale in comparison, do they not?.”

Listening to their banter was odd. Kun did not want to walk into the shop, but Ten pulled on his shirt sleeve. The room was dim and full of clutter, so much so that Kun had no idea what was really there, as everything blending into everything else.

“Things like these are hard to find these days, I’m sure you know, but there are a few of us still able to deal it. If you wanted it to have-” Kun couldn’t quite make out what the man said, “-you would be out of luck. I can’t even remember the last time I saw that cycling around.”

Ten hesitated for the first time in the conversation, “You . . . don’t?”

“It’s been long gone. Most of it’s been burned up. If anyone does have it you’d have to pay a pretty penny for it.”

“Right.”

“Here you are,” the man said and set something heavy on the counter. The noise made Kun jump. He had been standing a bit back, but he leaned over to see an amulet with an opaque amber in the center between them.

“Kun, you wanna see?” 

He didn’t, but he came closer. He didn’t want to touch it either, but Ten was giving him a look that told him that was what Ten needed him to do. The shopkeeper watched him the whole time. It made his skin crawl.

“Pretty,” Kun said, voice so soft he didn’t know if he was even heard. 

“Perfect,” Ten said and pulled a small bottle out of his pocket and slid it across the counter. 

“This it?”

“It’s potent. New, strong. It’s worth it, I can assure you.”

Kun didn’t like the sound of that. The man opened the cork and his eyes went foggy. He closed it quickly. Ten stuck out his hand. Instead of giving an appraising glare like he had got everything else, the man easily shook Ten’s hand. Kun caught the points of Ten’s teeth in his smile.

Ten then held out his hand to Kun and Kun finally got to relinquish the amulet, and he couldn’t walk fast enough out the store as Ten turned toward the entrance. “Lovely doing business with you, sir,” Ten said with laughter in his voice, and the amulet disappeared.

The man’s eyes widened, “You-,” his voice rose with the word, “I knew you were a demon, cursed thing!” he was becoming enraged. Kun latched a hand on Ten’s sleeve. They should _go_.

“You already made the deal, sir, wouldn’t want to go back on your word, would you,” Ten's form stretched just a bit, making him look just on the wrong side of uncanny. 

Kun hadn’t thought of Ten as intimidating in a long while. 

“How dare you,” the man growled and glared at Ten while Ten stood relaxed, challenging. The man reached into his shirt pocket and threw some kind of dust at them. Ten started coughing. The metal door closed immediately.

“Ten, what the fuck was that?”

Ten waved his hand in front of his face, “It’s just, fuckin’,” he coughed again, “a-” and he passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thinking about changing the title, tbh unintended consequences was sorta a placeholder title til I thought of something between in the first few chapters but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m trying to make small talk.”  
> “For what?”  
> “I guess . . . I don’t know. I want to know you better.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little later than usual but this chapter was giving me trouble, had some trouble ordering scenes, etc. theres also another fic i've been working on for a couple weeks that has been taking up a lot of my brain space and then I finally got offered a job last week so i've been. busy.

Kun went down to his knees beside a prone Ten. He had not been prepared for him to fall to the ground.

Ten was knocked clean out, and Kun had absolutely no idea what to do. 

What the actual fuck was he supposed to do? He could feel anxiety-induced bile rising in his throat.

His fingers were shaking as he sent a message to Renjun. His phone started ringing almost immediately.

“What do you mean your demon is unconscious?”

“I came with him to pick something up,” Kun had no awareness of how shaky his voice was. It didn't really matter as long as Renjun could parse out what he was saying, “and the guy learned Ten was a demon and threw like, a powder? At us? Now he’s . . . yeah.”

Renjun was silent.

“Renjun? Please just tell me what to do. Should I just take him back home?”

“Where are you?”

He peered around to the closest street sign and named it along with the bus stop they had gotten off at.

“Bring him to my place.”

“Your place?”

“Yeah. I’m on campus, but I’ll head back. I’ll tell whoever’s there to let you in.”

“But-”

“That’s all I’ve got. Tell me if you’re not coming so I can stay here.”

Renjun was the only one he knew with even a sliver of understanding about demons and demon adjacent matters. If getting his help meant introducing his mentee’s roommates to Ten, so be it.

Kun lifted Ten up under the armpits and hailed a taxi.

“Sorry, need to get my friend home,” he said to the driver, as nonchalant as he could pull off.

“Are you sure not to the hospital? There’s one right over there.”

“It’s fine, he gets drunk really easy.” It was three in the afternoon. “Bad breakup,” was the only excuse that came to Kun’s mind.

The taxi driver squinted at him, “Sure, son.”

During the drive Kun noticed marks reaching just above the collar of Ten's shirt. Thankfully Ten's arms weren't bare. The taxi driver had seemed mostly unconcerned with them, but he might not ignore the dark handprints if he could see them. Kun was nervous enough already that he forwent dwelling on the implications of the brands appearing.

When they got to the building, Kun pulled Ten's arm over behind his neck and steadied an arm around Ten's waist to pull him out of the taxi. Ten's skin was cold. It was unsettling. The driver immediately went on his way as soon as Kun shut the door. In the elevator, Kun’s heartbeat way too fast.

He didn’t even have to knock before the door opened and he was ushered in by one of Renjun’s roommates.

“Come on in, “ Donghyuck said. He ducked under Ten’s other arm and led them into the apartment, “Just put him on the sofa.” He pulled out a chair for Kun once Ten was laying down. “You need anything? Water? Tea?”

“Water would be great, thanks.”

Donghyuck seemed oddly calm, despite the unconscious man on his couch. Did he already know about Kun’s situation? He had no idea what Renjun had told them, and he didn’t really want to ask.

“I’m sure your boyfriend will be fine,” Donghyuck said when he handed Kun a glass, “Sorry to leave ya, but I gotta go, I’m gonna be late to class. Renjun called right before I would normally leave.”

“Sorry about this.”

Donghyuck patted his shoulder, “It’s fine, man.” When had these kids gotten so mature?

It wasn't too different from their usual arrangement in Kun’s apartment, Kun at the table and Ten on the couch, but it was oh so not the same. 

The door opened and Kun nearly tripped standing up. 

Jaemin stared at him from the doorway. “Uh, hey Kun. What’s going on?”

“Uh,” he said smartly. He fell back into the chair, he gestured to Ten.

Jaemin moved his eyes to the couch. “Who’s- oh, is that your boyfriend? I already forgot Renjun said something in the group chat. Is he okay?”

“I don’t know.”

They share awkward silence for a much too long moment, Jaemin's heavy backpack still on his shoulder and Kun looking pointedly away.

Renjun finally showed up, saving Kun from whatever small talk he would have otherwise had to have come up with. “Donghyuck let you in?”

“Yeah, he already left.”

“Of course he did.”

“What’s wrong?” Jaemin asked.

“It’s fine. You don’t have to worry about it.”

Jaemin narrowed his eyes, “If you say so,” and he fled to his own room.

“What can we do? Is there anything we can do?”

“Right now all we can do is wait.”

At that moment, in the matter of a second, Ten opened his eyes and sat up straight. He then put a hand over his eyes and shook his head, “Ugh, how annoying.” He coughed twice, hitting his chest after each one.

“Ten,” Kun exclaimed and was by his side in an instant.

Ten looked at Kun oddly, “What?” He had started rubbing over his chest and Kun felt zings when he moved over the brand. It comforted him in a way. It was something familiar among all the demon bullshit. Ten shivered and looked over to Renjun, only then noticing they weren’t in Kun’s apartment. “Why are we here?” 

“Are you okay?”

“I can tell a witch lives here,” he shivered again, “Damn, you must stay busy," he directed at Renjun, "the air is crackling in here.” Any pallor that had developed under Ten's skin had disappeared, as had the edges of brands Kun had seen in the cab.

“I’m talking about how you were unconscious,” Kun snapped his fingers in front of his face.

“Kun didn’t know what to do with you, so he brought you here,” Renjun answered Ten’s previous question.

“To you? You may be a witch, but you’re also just a child. What did you think you were going to be able to do?”

“I didn’t think I could really do anything, but I thought it would make Kun feel better.”

Kun wanted to be offended, but it was a fair assessment. He would have sent frantic messages to Renjun until Ten woke up. “That aside, what happened? Why did you faint?”

“I told you before," Ten flopped back down, leaning back on the armrest, "some people don’t like trading with demons directly. He had some protective powder that he threw at us.”

“Banishing powder?” Renjun asked.

“Would I still be here if it was?” Ten snorted, “No, it was just something to use in case he needed to get away from or get rid of entities like myself. Of course, since the trade was already completed, he tossed it more out of anger than fear.”

“Why the hell did you reveal yourself as a demon then? That was what made him angry,” Kun said exasperatedly.

“He made it so easy!” Ten threw up his arms, “How could I not?”

Kun massaged his temple.

“You heard how he was speaking to me. It was pretentious. I wanted to put him in his place.”

“Do you have no self-preservation?”

“Not when I have no self to preserve.”

Kun would kill him if he could be killed.

“Anyways it’s not a big deal,” Ten waved him off, “Nothing permanent.”

“Are you sure there're no side effects?” Renjun asked in a curious voice. It was a voice that made Kun think there was perhaps a science-brain in his mentee at the end of the day.

Ten just shrugged, ever helpful. He glanced at Kun, whose brows were still drawn and mouth still curved into a frown. “Aw,” he pinched Kun’s cheek, “babe, you were worried about me.”

“Get off me. Absolutely not,” he pulled Ten to his feet. “We’ll go then, sorry for making you come back for no reason,” Kun said to Renjun.

“Anytime.”

***

Kun wasn’t able to do anything productive the rest of the day. He sat at the table with his laptop open but wasn't taking anything in.

Ten was back on Kun’s couch, on his back with one leg crossed over the other. He was making some weird motion with his hand, almost like he was trying to snap with all fingers at once.

A fire lit up in Ten’s palm. “Nice! There we go.”

“Ten! Don’t make the fire alarm go off,” Kun scolded.

The fire dissipated, snuffed out by nothing. Ten made eye contact and right before Kun turned away he did it again.

“Ten!”

Ten just laughed.

Later, he glanced over to see Ten running a finger over the edge of his teeth. They were in gnarled, jagged points. Kun blinked rapidly and sat up straighter. Ten closed his lips when he noticed Kun's distress. They stared at each other for a moment before Ten shot back a smile that was as normal as ever.

It was not comforting.

Before, Kun had been so distracted by his own melodrama that Ten being a demon hadn’t come up nearly as much as one might expect. Ten teleported and talked about things Kun couldn't understand, but that was, honestly, easy to deal with. Maybe Kun had been too much in his own head, or, maybe Ten was only recently focusing on the contract. Was he preparing to leave now that the need for him had diminished?

“I’m worried about losing him now,” Kun confessed to Sicheng.

“What, was the agreement to stop fake-dating when you didn’t need to pretend for Doyoung anymore? Are you gonna tell Doyoung you lied?”

“Not like, right now. Maybe in the future, when it’s less embarrassing.”

Sicheng snorted, “‘When it’s less embarrassing,' right,” he parroted. “Back to your angst, you think if you say he doesn’t need to be your boyfriend anymore, he’s just gonna disappear?”

“I really can’t talk to you about this if you don’t believe he’s a demon.”

Sicheng let his head fall back and looked at the sky. It would be ironic, to some degree, if Sicheng was asking whatever god was listening for strength. “Nevermind, you can deal with your problems on your own if you’re going to be like this,” he said. 

Kun pouted, a move he didn’t pull very often.

“I already gave you my advice anyways. You need to talk to him. What went wrong with Doyoung? Communication. What’s going to go wrong with Ten if you kept acting like this?” he gestured for Kun to say, but Kun didn't humor it.

When he got back to the apartment he sat heavily on the couch.

Ten looked over from the corner he was nestled in, surprised, but not overly concerned. He could probably tell Kun was anxious, could feel it in his energy or whatever.

“Notice any weird energies lately?” he asked lamely, because it had come to mind.

Ten gave him an odd look, “Besides you, right now? What are you talking about?”

“I’m trying to make small talk.”

“For what?” Ten looked back at the book Kun was pretty sure was pulled from his own shelf and threw his legs over Kun’s lap.

Kun let a wrist drop to rest over Ten’s ankles, “I don’t know.”

Ten shook his head but he hadn’t looked back up. He was smiling. 

“I guess . . . I don’t know. I want to know you better.”

Ten looked up at that. “Only now? After I’ve been here for,” he started counting on his fingers, “oh, right, I don’t recognize time, but it’s been a while.”

“I’ve asked about you or about your world before, but you either gloss over it or ignore me.”

“Aw, I’m sorry, babe.”

“No you’re not.”

“I’m not,” he shook his head again. He looked back at the book.

Right.

That night, in bed, Kun opened his eyes when Ten started to talk.

“You see, trying to learn about me is useless. There’s no way for you to even begin to conceptualize ‘my world.’”

Kun didn’t think that was a great excuse.

“It’s like when you’re a kid and an adult describes another country or culture or . . . idk, their job?” he actually said ‘I don’t know’ as its abbreviation out loud, “You just don’t get it, you don't know how it works. Or, you think you do, but you get older and- well that’s a bad example, because with this you _can’t_ get the experience. You _can't_ get it.”

“I see,” and he flipped over to face away.

“Aw sweetheart, don’t sulk,” Ten slipped his arms around his waist. Kun was regretting allowing Ten under the covers. Ten was touchy any day, but this . . . this was new territory. It was also hard to sulk if he was suddenly nervous and sweaty.

Ten’s arms eventually went lax but didn’t move. Asleep? Kun gently moved them off so he could turn onto his back.

It took him a long time to doze off.

***

There was a covered pot simmering on the stove that Ten had told him not to touch. He must have been worried Kun would anyways, because he dragged him out for a walk. It didn't keep Kun from worrying about the fire hazard in his apartment. Was it protected by some demon magic? Whatever.

They had gone back to the river. Ten was quieter this time around, arm linked around Kun’s. When he suddenly stopped, the hold he had on his arm forced Kun to stop too. Ten’s head turned around to the other people walking about and stopped to stare at a man looking out over the river.

He pulled them a few steps closer, “You!” Ten pointed, “I know you.”

The tall man turned to them, and while Kun himself couldn’t feel energies, simple deduction led to the obvious: this man had to be a demon. The man smiled. Kun looked away.

“What are you doing here?” Ten asked.

“Was summoned yesterday, but can’t complete the ritual the girl needs until tonight. I’m just biding my time.”

Ten nodded. Kun's stomach flipped over once. Twice.

“This your current employer?” It was a strange way to refer to him, but Kun guessed it was accurate.

“Yeah, isn’t he adorable?” Ten poked his cheek. Kun gave him a dirty look. “I’ll be here for a bit longer still. List contract.”

The man- demon- whistled lowly. “Well, nice to meet you,” he directed to Kun, tilting his head in acknowledgment. “Any . . .” he hesitated and glanced at Kun, as if unsure whether he wanted to say what he was going to with him there. 

When he spoke again, his voice had turned into the strange static Kun had only heard a couple times before. Though instead of a short phrase, it was everything he was saying. It started to give Kun a headache.

“No, my things are just . . . a little rare,” Ten answered, “Rarer than I expected.” Kun was thankful he was given a respite from the incomprehensible demon language.

The other demon still responded back with more static. His eyebrows were raised. 

“See, I might have-” then Ten’s own voice vanished into static. Kun really hated this. He closed his eyes.

The other demon whistled again, louder this time.

Kun looked at their feet for the rest of their conversation, feeling left out and uncomfortable.

“Good luck, then,” the other demon said, finally back in something Kun could understand. He reached out and patted Kun’s shoulder and it took everything in Kun not to recoil. Then he was gone. The people in the vicinity didn’t seem to notice his disappearance.

It was starting to get dark, and now Kun’s head hurt. Would there be long-term effects of listening to demon speech? He really hoped not.

“Sorry about that, sweetheart.” Ten reached from behind Kun and rubbed his temples, “I know that probably wasn’t the most enjoyable for you.”

He waved his hands off. “How did you recognize that other demon anyways?” Stupid question. _Energies, duh._

“I have eyes? You asked me before if I have friends in hell. That was one.”

“Don’t you look different as a demon though?”

Ten considered what to say, “It’s hard to explain this in a way that’ll make any sort of sense to your mind that has only existed on one plane of existence. You’re not allowed to sulk since we already talked about it.”

Kun wouldn't say they had actually 'talked' about anything, but he didn't bother voicing that.

“It’s a little bit the energy, a little bit that we already know each other. We’ve also both been this side before, so I’ve seen his human form before.”

“He kept the same appearance? You keep the same appearance every time?”

“Disguising as a human is actually very easy, because we just default close to what we were when we led a human life. We can change obviously, but it’s easiest to look like this,” Ten gestured down at himself.

"I thought you said you didn't remember being a human."

Ten relinked their arms, "I don't, but that's what makes sense, isn't it?"

There was no point arguing with the jumps of logic. “Have you transformed back since you turned into,” he waved around Ten with his free hand, as one arm was once again claimed, “this?”

“No. Well, not fully.”

“It costs a lot of effort?”

Ten hummed, “Some. It’s not even really a true form anyways, like you might think. The way we look as a demon is a bastardization of what we were before. True forms don’t exist.”

“Nothing matters or means anything,” Kun muttered, rolling his eyes.

“Now you’re learning.”

Kun wanted to call him out for being patronizing, even if that wasn't quite the right word. He just wanted to have something to say back.

“There are angels too, or fallen ones, at least,” Ten offered when they were back in the apartment, talking more even though he didn’t have to.

“How does an angel fall?”

“Fuck if I know, I wasn’t one. I never really fraternized with them either. They’re different than us- me, demons like me.”

“How?”

Ten scrunched up his face, “Scarier.”

If he thought hard enough, Kun could still imagine the dread he felt when Ten had appeared from the summoning circle. He hoped he never came in contact with an angel-demon. Though he really should have never come in contact with whatever Ten was (a human-demon?) either.

He heard bubbling and Ten rushed to the kitchen.

Kun groaned, “If there’s a mess you’re cleaning it up!”

***

“Are you not avoiding my questions about hell anymore?”

It was night. They were in bed. Kun hadn’t closed the blinds and there was enough light that he could easily see Ten’s face. His brain was still whirring from earlier, from the last couple days, as much as he should probably forget about all of it.

Ten’s mouth pulled into a grin before changing to something more faux-thoughtful. “I’m trying to compromise.”

“Compromise, what do you mean?”

“Compromise. What do _you_ mean?”

“Asshole.”

Ten laughed, “Is getting me to talk about what’s outside your conscious soul a good idea? Knowing truths about life and death hasn’t usually gone well for other people who have had me explain it to them. It’s like, a one-way ticket to instant depression.”

“I guess. It’s not so much I want to know what happens when I die, I just want to understand _you_ better, and a big part of you is . . . the whole demon thing.”

Ten stared at him.

Kun waited, but Ten kept staring. “Something wrong?”

Kun watched as a look akin to realization washed over Ten's features, brightening his face, raising his eyebrows, and widening his eyes. It was a look that made Kun nervous. “I see,” was what he said.

That was a phrase that, without further context, also made Kun nervous. 

“You like me.”

Kun’s stomach dropped. “I- what?"

"You like me."

"I tolerate you at best,” he scoffed. He turned onto his back.

“I can taste your nervousness, you know?”

“First, weird-”

“You’re the one who wants to know more about demons.”

“I want to know more about you,” he stressed, “and I’m still entitled to call you weird, whether it be over your personal idiosyncrasies or over something demon related.”

“You really like me, don’t you, Qian Kun?”

Despite what he had already given away, in bits and pieces, denial still sat on his tongue, right behind his teeth.

But he couldn’t deny it, could he? 

Why did he keep everything bottled up, like he did? 

“I do, yeah, unfortunately, I think.”

Ten took his hand and Kun felt . . . Kun felt a lot of things, sort of like he was free-falling, sort of like the sun had taken residence in his chest.

Kun wanted to ask what this meant, what it _could_ mean, but for right now, he would let himself bask in that warmth.

***

Kun couldn’t say there was a significant change. Ten had been tactile from the start, only now could Kun feel affection in the actions. 

They hadn’t talked about it.

Maybe for Ten there wasn’t anything to talk about. He probably already knew the impending doom of anything concrete and thought that Kun understood it too. And Kun did, Kun understood it very well. He was being humored.

Kun was crouched over the table with his lab notebook beside him. Ten, on the way to the kitchen, pressed a kiss to his temple. Kun hadn’t even processed it when Ten was walking back and did the same to the other side of his head. He didn’t get much more done that night.

Sicheng’s words echoed in his head. What was going to go wrong here, as they had with every other relationship in Kun’s life?

He was nervous, but talking to Ten about whatever they were doing now couldn’t be anywhere close to as awful as it had been talking to Doyoung about the past. He built himself up to talk on a late afternoon while he was on the bus back from campus. 

When Ten wasn’t there when he got back, he instantly deflated. Ten reappeared around dinner and barely picked at the food Kun set out. Kun didn’t bother him for a while, but after reading a whole article in silence because Ten hadn’t turned on the TV, Kun was becoming something akin to worried.

“Is something wrong?” he leaned back in his chair

“No, why would anything be wrong?”

“You’ve been staring into space, like this,” Kun pulled his legs up onto his chair and mimicked Ten’s pose, “for at least half an hour.”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“Okay.”

Ten was already laying in the bed when Kun finished his night routine. When he was settled himself, Ten spoke quietly, essentially a whisper, “There's a problem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The unnamed demon is supposed to be someone, any guesses?
> 
> i never know if im doing too much worldbuilding especially nearing the end of a story. anyways  
> also i lowkey keep forgetting im writing a romance so and kept staving off those scenes so cheers to this chapter finally making progress there  
> since 2 chapters ago this fic has been the longest piece of /continuous/ writing ive ever done which is! kinda nuts


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Can we just . . . amend the contract?”  
> “You can’t just upturn a demon contract. It doesn’t work like that.”  
> “Have you tried?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof ive been busy, i went from not working at all to having 3 part-time jobs so that's where i'm at lmao! ive lost a lot of steam recently bc of this and also bc ive been trying to write multiple wips at once
> 
> and thank you for all the love this fic has gotten <3 here's a bit of a serious chapter

“Define ‘something,’” was the only thing Kun could think of to say. Something being wrong by demon standards was probably vastly different than something being wrong by human ones.

Ten didn't respond.

He tried another question, “Does this involve the guy that made you pass out?”

“No. Yes. Not really.”

Kun sat up and ran a hand through his crumpled hair. He patted the bed to encourage Ten to do the same, “Ten. Talk to me.”

Ten sat up but still didn’t speak.

“Are you hurt?”

“No.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“There’s a thing on the list.”

There were many things on the list. What was Ten’s point? Kun rubbed his eyes.

“It used to be easy to get, no problem.”

“And now?” Was Kun going to have to go on the dark web to get something for Ten, after all?

“It might not exist anymore.”

Kun scratched the side of his neck, “Do you know for sure?”

Ten shifted, “No.”

“Okay,” he patted Ten’s head and ran his fingers once, twice, through the hair on the nape of Ten's neck. He laid back down, “Are you worried about it?”

Ten followed, laying on his back and crossing his arms. “I don’t know.”

***

Ten had walked with him to the library from the lab, hanging off his arm the whole way. Sicheng was waiting for them- or, waiting for Kun- at the entrance. “Bye-bye, darling,” Ten peeled off and pecked him on the rise of his cheek before bouncing off.

Kun’s face was warm and Sicheng rose a single eyebrow at him. Even with Sicheng's eyes on him as they went inside and walked upstairs, he gave no explanation.

“You half-talked about it.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, and you’re going all shifty-eyed like you do when something happens you don’t want me to comment on.”

“Hm.”

Sicheng rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to claim to understand what’s going on better than you, but obviously something changed,” he waved his arm behind them, toward the direction they came from, “but something still isn’t right. He knows you want to real-date but you’re not sure how he actually feels about it.”

When they finally sat down at a free table, Kun tapped his fingers on the laminated wood.

“You have to talk to him, properly. It seems like you didn’t have a conversation at all.”

“We didn’t, really,” Kun leaned back, “He figured out I liked him and he’s been acting like that since.”

“I’ve already given you my advice.”

“I know. I’m getting around to it.”

It was barely after dusk when he followed Sicheng out of the library. They parted at the bus stop and Kun didn’t put his headphones in on the way back. He had some things to think through. 

Ten was laying upside down on the couch when he entered. The TV was off and Ten was simply staring off into space. Kun snapped his fingers in front of his face.

“Hm?”

In lieu of saying anything, Kun just stared at him.

“You’re worried about me,” Ten poked him in the leg.

Kun snorted.

“You are,” Ten held onto the divot of his knee then let it slide down to rest on his calf, “No rebukal?”

“We’ve already covered this, that’s not a word.”

“Point stands.”

"I admit, I'm concerned. You fainted when I didn’t think that was a thing that could happen, then you say there’s something in the deal that may or may not be no longer possible to get." He glanced back at the dark TV, "You're obviously a bit out of it. Worried is a natural feeling to have, even for people you have no relation to.” _So for those you do have relations with_ , he didn't say, _the concern is even stronger_. 

Ten’s grin grew more into a smile. He sat up properly. 

“Leave me alone,” Kun grumbled.

“No, it’s sweet. You’re sweet,” he laughed, but it wasn’t mean, like Kun was expecting. He couldn’t look at Ten’s face. 

Being sweet didn’t mean it mattered. Ten sat up and reached forward to wrap them around Kun’s waist. His chin was propped on Kun’s chest, looking up, “You’re allowed to, you know?”

“To what?”

“To like me,” another smile. Kun didn’t focus on his teeth anymore, no longer thought about demon-sharp points, hadn't noticed when he had switched to just seeing Ten. The mark at his side was warm with his proximity.

“Being allowed to and it being good for me are two different things.”

“You right,” Ten shrugged, but didn’t let him go, “Nothing to do with me can be good, remember?”

Kun didn’t think that was fair, or true.

“But you can still like it.”

Kun’s hands rested on Ten’s upper arms. He hadn’t been expecting Ten to be the one to start this conversation. “Are you hung up on this?”

“As much as you are, darling. How could I not be? How often do you think demons and their summoners actually build a relationship like we have?”

“We are calling this a relationship now?”

Ten withdrew with a hit to Kun’s chest. “'Relationship' has a lot of meanings.”

“Yeah, that’s why I ask,” Kun put a knee on the couch beside Ten’s thigh. Bravery, just a little.

Ten leaned back in and his hands splayed out on Kun's lower back. “You want to me to have something certain to say,” he said, “but I don’t.” 

Kun frowned. 

“You’re cute,” he reached up and poked Kun’s cheek, “you’re sweet,” poked his other cheek, “maybe a little boring,” poked his nose. Kun’s eyebrows wrinkled. “But I like you. I’m trying to figure it out too, you know?” Ten let his arms slip away when Kun moved to sit beside him but immediately pulled himself into his side. “I don’t want to give you excuses you’ll end up overthinking anyways. I’m a demon. I have to be more careful with my words than you probably realize.”

Ten hadn't said the same things Kun had wanted to, but what he had had been close enough. They had been close enough to validations that Kun could rest a fraction easier. 

Kun didn’t flinch when Ten interlaced their fingers.

The small affections became easier. Finishing a page for the night meant he could pull up his legs on the couch and Ten would splay across them. Leaving for class meant a lingering touch. A long day meant Ten would press his fingers into his shoulders.

They talked, but Ten would steer away from anything to do with the contract.

Another set of days had passed. Ten was laying on the floor, hands held out above him cupping a small flame. Every few seconds the fire changed colour. Kun was watching out of his peripheries, resigned off of telling Ten to quit being a fire hazard.

When it flickered up once concerningly high, Kun sat up, “What’s up with all this?” he questioned, “We went weeks with me not seeing you do any demon stuff,” Kun plowed through even when Ten opened his mouth, “don’t talk over me- no _obvious_ demon stuff, and now you’re lighting fires, being knocked out by magic dust . . .”

The flame dispersed and Ten put his arms behind his head. He opened his mouth, but it looked like the words got caught in his throat. His forehead scrunched up and he sat up sharply. One hand cupped his head. 

He stayed in his seat until Ten started breathing heavily, “Ten?” Kun pushed his chair back from the table.

“It kinda . . . gugh.”

“Hurts? Is it- are you okay?”

Ten was going blurry, something Kun had only seen on the first night. His shape only evened out in spurts, like a visual equivalent of tuning a radio in the woods. Kun saw the handprints, saw black scales, saw cloth tear and rearrange, saw Ten’s proportions change, saw his eyes flash red. It was freaking him out, but was it reasonable that he was more nervous _for_ Ten?

He had to look away. Only when the sounds of . . . whatever . . . had ceased did he dare look back. Ten was hunched over but had scooted to lean on the frame of the couch. He was a sickly colour and drowning in the cloak he had worn when he had first transformed into a human. The brands on his neck and wrists were as dark as fresh ink. 

Kun stared. 

Long seconds turned into multiple minutes, and the handprints turned gray until fading completely. The cloak slowly morphed into a hoodie and a blanket. Ten didn’t move. Kun tepidly got up and squatted in front of him, who for once was the one who couldn’t meet _his_ eyes.

“I’m getting weaker.”

Ten didn’t elaborate and didn’t mention what Kun had asked before his . . . episode. Kun didn’t ask him to.

The next time Kun was in the library late, Ten didn’t show up at his usual time to pressure him to come home. He met Sicheng’s eyes over their laptops, but neither said anything. Renjun was there too, but Kun was restraining from updating him. The paper Renjun had pulled up on his screen was a big percentage for one of his major classes.

Kun didn't even know what he could say.

When he got back, Ten was pacing the apartment, the most aggravated Kun had ever seen him. 

“There’s another. Another! I don’t- how will I- how can I-”

Kun clenched and unclenched his fists, wanting to comfort but not knowing how. “What are you talking about?” Kun dropped his heavy bag onto the table and leaned on it.

“This list! I fucked up twice!”

“There are things you can't get? You know for sure?"

The look Ten shot at him was smoldering.

"Okay, now what?”

Ten took a deep breath, “Completing deals is what gives us power,” Ten said with exasperation, “I don’t know what happens when one can’t be fulfilled. That’s not supposed to even be a possibility.” Ten’s hands went up into his hair. He disappeared.

Kun was too nervous to go to sleep. He sat on the couch with a book in his lap, but only scrolled through his phone. Ten teleported beside him. Kun mentally patted himself on the back for not getting spooked.

“I’ve been doing “demon stuff” outside of what I need to for the deal to make sure I can still do it," he admitted quietly. "Maybe that’s been stupid of me, wasting my energy.”

“So the contract is . . . not good?”

Ten shook his head.

“You’ve never heard of this happening before?”

“There’s never been anyone to tell such a story,” Ten scoffed, but it was a tired, exhausted one. “For all I know, the longer a deal goes uncompleted, the weaker and weaker the demon gets ‘til they turn to dust. Would a demon turn to dust? Will I just disappear?”

Kun realized belatedly that Ten was scared. “Stop that,” he put an arm around him.

“You can’t tell me that won’t happen. You don’t know.” Ten grumbled but fell into him and buried his face between his shoulder and neck.

“I wasn’t going to claim to, but speculating like that isn’t going to help, either.”

Ten wasn’t around in the morning. This did not comfort Kun for a variety of reasons.

He appeared before dinner, while Kun was dressing the table with the few things he had cooked.

“I’ve felt alive, since I’ve been up here.”

“Alive?”

“Demons just exist; we don’t really live, you know,” Ten nodded, as though he was discussing this with himself. He didn’t come over to eat. Kun left some food on the table even after he cleaned his own dishes up.

Kun wiped his hands then moved until he was in front of him. Ten just let his head fall back to look up. Kun cupped his face, tilting it a bit further back, a bit more up. He kissed him on the lips, once. 

When he pulled back far enough to look, Ten’s mouth had fallen open the slightest bit and he was batting his eyes. Kun brushed his thumbs over his cheekbones.

He leaned down again, this time a little shorter and less somber. Ten’s fingertips touched the backs of the hands.

When he pulled back again, Ten murmured, “Come back here,” and held Kun’s chin between his thumb and the side of his index finger.

***

“You look tired.”

Kun snorted, “Yeah, so do you.”

“You look the not-school-related tired, though,” Sicheng leaned back in his chair, pushing it up on the back two legs.

Kun breathed out through his nose. He didn’t really want to talk to Sicheng about this. “Ten’s been having, uh, problems.”

“Okay.”

“That’s it. I’m worried. It’s wearing on him, so it’s wearing on me.”

“Are you dating-dating now?”

“Close enough.”

"So I don't have to refer to him as your fake-boyfriend anymore?"

Kun shrugged, "Or you can just call him by his name."

Ten shuffled over beside their table. He gave a wave and small smile but didn’t bother with words. Kun was surprised to see him. 

Sicheng gave an acknowledging nod to him and Kun's awkwardly pushing in of his chair.

Ten's hold on his hand was tighter than usual. In the apartment, Ten immediately curled up on the couch and turned the TV on. Kun stood in front of it, blocking the view. Ten drifted side to side trying to see around him.

“You say you’ve never met someone who’s had a deal that couldn’t work," Kun said, "but there’s got to be something you can do, right? Can you ask another demon?”

“I can’t just page one of my ‘demon friends.’ I’d have to go all the way to hell, and I don’t know if I'm strong enough to get there and back.”

“Other demons come up here though, too. What about the demon we met at the river?”

“Just because he was in this world then, doesn’t mean he still is. It’s tedious to seek out other demons. Not worth it.”

“I could summon another.”

“Listen, sweetheart,” the pet name was condescending, “Just because you got lucky summoning me, doesn’t mean it would work out in your favour again. You summon, you make a deal. Even with me around you can’t expect to nab a decent one.” 

Kun let the conversation be dropped until he was putting away the laundry he had finished days ago. Ten was sitting on his bed. When he shoved the last drawer closed he said, “Can we just . . . amend the contract?”

“You can’t just upturn a demon contract. It doesn’t work like that.”

“Have you tried?”

“Well, there’s no reason it would work! It’s on me to make the deal to be in my favor and not yours,” he crossed his arms.

“Have you _tried_?” he reiterated.

Ten stood and held up his hand. It caught fire and the contract manifested. He flipped through it and touched his fingers to one of the pages, brow furrowed. A light flashed and he yelped (actually _yelped_ ). “Fuck, shit, god damn-”

“Do you need . . . blood?”

The demon pursed his lips, then cut the tip of his finger with a fang. He asked for Kun’s hand too.

“You’re not going to bite my hand, are you?”

Ten playfully snapped his teeth at him, but only pricked him with an elongated nail when Kun did pass over his hand. The blood already on Ten’s hand burned his skin. “Okay, let’s . . . touch the contract at the same time.”

They did. Kun watched the blood seep into the paper, then another light flashed and pain shot up through his arm.

“God _damn_ it!” the demon shouted, throwing the contract. The paper dematerialized before it hit the ground.

“Does anything cancel a contract? Like . . . anything?” 

Ten was silent. 

“Exorcism? Is that an actual thing?”

The demon sighed, “Yeah, you could exorcise me, but we made a deal. Exorcisms just banish; the contract would still be in place.”

“Well, could you get banished and ask about for some advice from there?”

“That’s a dumb idea.”

“Okay, fine, turn to dust, whatever,” Kun flopped onto the bed, turned to the wall, forcing himself to ignore his unbandaged hand in favor of being dramatic. It was silent, but he was _not_ going to cave first.

It stayed quiet, no hint of movement. He would have fallen asleep if it weren’t for the tension in the room. He turned onto his side so he could see Ten. The demon sat on the edge of the foot of the bed, legs curled up, chin sat on top of his knees, staring off. 

“The only way to destroy a contract is if either I’m killed or you are.”

Kun’s first impulse was to ask ‘demons can be killed?’ but he held his tongue. He opened his arms. Ten looked at him, face stony. Kun tucked his arms back around himself.

When he woke up in the morning, Ten was laying next to him, surprisingly. Kun had expected to either see him still sitting up sulking, or maybe on the couch in the other room. 

His eyes were closed. It was obvious, when Kun looked, that Ten really didn’t have a lot of energy.

He needed to talk to Renjun.

Ten was only becoming increasingly distraught and unable to come up with anything, and Kun certainly couldn’t help on his own. He invited his mentee for coffee from the cheap on-campus shop, coffee that he would pay for so it would be difficult for any young college student to pass up.

After a couple minutes of being asked about his classes, Renjun tapped his fingers “I’ve been waiting for you to talk, but it’s taking too long. What’s wrong?”

With Renjun’s version of encouragement, Kun got to the point, “Ten doesn’t think he can get everything he put in our contract.”

“Damn, for real? Your demon boyfriend really is dumb.”

“Renjun . . .”

“Yeah, yeah, alright, continue.”

“Can you help?”

“With what? If they don’t know how to get what they need, I, an amateur witch, am not going to be able to help them, unfortunately.”

“Can some of it be botched through like, semantics or something? I don’t know demon, so I am of absolutely no help.”

Renjun rolled his eyes, “The language isn’t called ‘demon,’ it’s-”

Kun heard radio static come from Renjun’s mouth. What the fuck. “Please don’t do that.” 

“Sorry. I can look, I guess, but I’m really not a good option.”

“Renjun, you’re literally the only option right now.”

Ten was thankfully lounging around when Kun brought Renjun back to the apartment with him. 

“I brought Renjun,” he announced. 

“Whom?” Ten flipped around and looked up, “oh, the kid.”

“I brought him because, you know, maybe he could help.”

Ten raised an eyebrow at the two of them.

“I know, I know, neither of you think that’s worth anything, but I’m just doing what I can, okay?” 

Ten sat up and reached for Kun’s hand. He ran his thumb over Kun’s palm once, “Thanks, really, as true as it is that he’s not going to be able to help.”

“So, what’s the situation. I’ve got assignments to get to,” Renjun interrupted. 

The contract unraveled in Ten’s hand. He held it out for Renjun to see. Renjun rubbed his eyes and ran his finger over the lines, reading. Ten pointed at a couple parts of the scribbles, “I’ve already got-” and static. Renjun nodded.

“Yeah, no, I got nothing,” he unzipped his bookbag and pulled out a leather-bound notebook, “I’ll write it down. Like I said, if they couldn’t find it, I won’t either, but I’ll write it down.” Kun watched him write from over his shoulder. “I know a guy who knows a guy who knows some guys. Don’t get your hopes up though.”

“Do you want me to walk you to the bus stop?”

Renjun shook his head, “I’m fine. I’ll let you know if, you know, if there's anything to let you know,” he waved the notebook.

Ten gave him a smile as he left, but it didn’t reach his eyes. It made Kun’s stomach feel a little sick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once this fic is done i might separately post some one-shots focusing on other characters in this au; this fic has taken long enough that im ready to be done w this storyline but also im still attached to this universe


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You only noticed just now? Did you know?”  
> “He didn’t! He’s trying to be nonchalant."  
> “What’s your excuse?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah! been busy! been tired! lost a lot of motivation! but here it is, its been more than a year since i wrote the first snippet that turned into this fic! nuts  
> im so appreciative to y'all who've enjoyed this fic, really it took me reading through the comments again to get the final burst of energy to get this chapter up <333

Kun missed the earlier days. So we're clear, the ones when the contract was something that loomed in the back of their minds, not the months of self-sabotage he committed in the name of his degree.

Ten had been quiet the rest of the night after Renjun had left.

The space he had made for Ten in his chest was hurting.

Ten was in a better mood the next day. His smile showed most of his teeth when he took the food Kun was bringing out for breakfast out of his hands. Kun, in confusion, stood in the kitchen for a moment before following him out.

“You’re . . . oddly chipper,” he commented.

“Yeah, I had a really good sleep! I haven’t slept like that since I became a demon,” he stretched, plate still perched precariously in his hand.

Kun reached up and took it away from him to put safely on the table. “So, you do sleep? Sleep sleep?”

Ten hummed before answering, “It’s like the eating thing, I can do it, and I will do it,” he emphasized, “but I don’t have to. It doesn’t really do anything, you know?”

“But you feel better now?” Contradictory, but that wasn’t out of the ordinary for Ten.

“It was a good sleep! I may be a demon, but I’m allowed to enjoy things.”

When the table was clear after they ate, Kun was there on his laptop until dinner. After dinner, Ten cleared his throat when Kun took his computer out of sleep mode.

“Demanding cuddles,” he said from the couch.

“I’m working.” A weak excuse.

“Demanding. Cuddles.” Grabby hands. “Babe,” he drew out.

Kun shut his computer.

The TV was on low, the channel turned to some documentary with neutral colours. By the half-way point, they were both laying on the couch. Kun was laying more on his side, hand resting over the brand on the Ten's chest, and Ten’s arm was wrapped around his back, hand curled on his side, over his own mark. A warm feeling flowed through Kun, leaving soft goosebumps in its wake.

***

When Kun came back from the lab, the TV wasn’t on. Kun thought Ten must have been out, until he saw him curled up on the corner of the couch. He was awake this time, a large book laid over his lap, moving a pencil over the pages. As soon as Ten noticed Kun starting to lean over the back of the couch, he shut it with a loud thwack. The book dematerialized.

“What was that? Is that what a grimoire is?”

“Why would I need a grimoire? I’m already a demon.” Ten opened his hands and the book reappeared, “It’s just a sketchbook.”

“Oh.”

“What? I’m allowed hobbies.”

“Yeah, I know you are. I was just confused. I’ve never seen you with that before.”

“I draw all the time, that was just the first time you noticed,” he rematerialized a pencil to hit Kun in the nose with. They poofed out of his hands again.

“Do you wanna go out?” Kun asked spontaneously.

“Aw, are you asking me on a date? I’m flattered,” Ten stretched out, leaning back to reach around Kun’s neck, trying to entice him closer with the smooth lines of his figure.

“No, I mean- I wasn’t, but, it can be, I guess. I meant like, out out.”

“This late?”

“Yeah.”

When Ten stood, he was already half-transformed into new clothes. He had paused himself midway, forcing Kun’s brain to try to comprehend how a portion of his clothes was skin-tight and revealing and the rest was still a baggy tee and sweatpants. He brought his eyes back up when Ten asked, “Do you?”

“What?”

“Want to go out?”

“We can.”

“Not an answer, but okay!” Ten rushed out of the room, probably to look at himself in a mirror as the outfit completed. Kun nudged Ten out of the way of his closet and watched Ten and he buttoned-up a thin flannel on himself. Ten’s silken black shirt hung loosely; it covered his wrists and was big enough to be able to be tucked in.

“We going or are you just gonna stare at me, sweetheart?”

Kun met his eyes through the mirror.

“I’m fine with either, by the way, darling,” his smile widened.

The bar Kun led them to was a little closer, a little more intimate, and a lot less club than where they had gone before.

“Did you actually, you know, do anything when we came out with Sicheng?” Both of their elbows were on the counter. Ten’s eyes were on the bartender, waiting to get his attention by simply existing.

“Yeah,” Ten rolled his eyes, “I can get things from kitschy shops and, you know, stealing, bargaining, whatever, but some stuff you gotta," he shrugged, "work a little harder for. Do I have to go into details? I'm not going to. This, though, this is where supernaturality really gathers, you know, where demons can actually play.”

“Here, right here?” Kun glanced around, “I thought you said that wasn’t a thing.”

“Why do you take everything so literally?” Ten knocked their shoulders together. “There are no demon clubs, but we thrive here. Just the right amount of bad intentions,” Ten smacked his lips like he was tasting the air. Then he made a face. It wasn't a pleasant one, more akin to one he made when Kun had unthinkingly made a fruit-based chutney a few weeks back.

Kun didn’t comment on it.

“Dance?” Ten held out a hand, apparently giving up on getting a drink. Kun took it without a second thought.

The outing was a little pandering. Kun hoped Ten didn’t realize, hoped he didn’t notice Kun was treating him like a terminally ill friend with a bucket list.

Or maybe he did notice and didn’t care. Maybe he was pandering to Kun in return. 

How tragic.

***

Days passed in cycles. 

Some included Ten all but forgetting about the list and its difficulties, others had Ten silent and pacing. The oscillations were unpredictable. 

Renjun never had any news for him.

Kun worked through all of these days, becoming adept at balancing his studies and a stressed demon at home. 

There were no more spontaneous fires, little to no teleporting, no sudden showing off of dangerous enchanted blades. At least not to Kun's eyes. 

Ten was still Ten. He still watched the set of dramas that aired throughout the week, still commented on any scenes outside the window, still poked fun at Kun and his studious behavior. He still rotated through a set of demonically affected clothes, but that was the most of it. Kun could only take the development to mean Ten was now serious about preserving energy.

Kun's own schedule didn't change that much. He still had to put in his time at the lab, still went to the library to study and write, still sat with Ten to watch TV in the evening.

His phone vibrated. 

He was the only one at the table. Sicheng had already left for his part-time job and Ten hadn't shown up to drag him back (if he didn't teleport, he had to use the bus, and he wasn't great at figuring them out by himself). When he saw who the message was from, he was glad to be alone.

The platonic relationship he had with Doyoung was still new enough that Kun didn’t want any passing comments about it from whoever might have something to say (Sicheng, specifically).

Since deciding to handle everything like adults, they had been messaging sporadically. They even ate lunch together when they both had time and were both on campus. It was a lot more comfortable like that, getting to know each other again in the common space of on-campus dining. 

The text was asking about doing such the next day. He sent back a quick response.

Doyoung was doing well, and Kun was doing well, and they had enough of an understanding of each other that they could both brag about their respective successes and groan about things going wrong. It was nice. Real progress, finally.

Kun talked a lot about Ten. 

In vague spurts, of course, but he was such an integrated part of Kun’s life now, it would be hard to not mention him. On the other hand, Doyoung would only say something about Jaehyun if Kun asked.

“I asked Johnny before, you know, if he knew Jaehyun.”

“Johnny?”

“Yeah, since he’s, you know, he’s in Writing.” 

Doyoung’s look was blank.

“Which is, like, adjacent to Literature.” Same department? Kun didn’t understand a lot about the humanities.

Doyoung blinked, “Oh, yeah, I guess it is.”

“Is Jaehyun planning to do his Master’s here?”

Doyoung twirled the straw in his drink, “I . . . don’t think so. I don’t think he’s decided, if he will, I mean. He’ll change to something different, I think, maybe.” He cracked his knuckles. Doyoung pushed the conversation back to Kun with a question about Ten, and they later cycled back to how they went on two awkward double dates.

“Yeah, we can try it again, if you’d like. Unless you don’t think it would be any less . . . what it was.”

“No, or, yes, I mean that I think it would be better. Are you suggesting we do? Do you want to?” Doyoung's eyebrows came together.

Kun sat back. He didn’t feel pressured to agree like he had the first time. It felt like a choice now. He said, “Yeah, sure,” anyways.

Maybe it would be a welcome distraction.

***

Sicheng rubbed his face when he told him offhand. “You just love to make yourself suffer, don’t you?”

“We’re _good_ now,” Kun defended.

“And you want testing calm waters, it seems.”

“It’ll be fine,” Kun rolled his eyes, “and you were calling _me_ the dramatic one before.”

“You are, out of the two of us. Me having a bad feeling is justified.”

“Unfounded, now.”

“It absolutely is not. If it doesn’t go perfectly, you owe me coffee.”

“I’m not agreeing to anything.”

“You just agreed by not agreeing.”

“I’m going home,” he packed up.

That weekend, Ten’s fingers brushed over the shirts hanging in Kun’s closet. They were luckily in a crest of Ten’s moods, but having somewhere to go out to may have helped.

“Can I wear something of yours?”

“Why? Choices are a lot more limited compared to the selection at your demonic disposal.”

Ten pouted.

“I didn’t say no. It’s fine,” the lilt of his voice was still questioning.

Ten took out and put back in a couple hangers before sliding a softly coloured button-up off the hanger. Kun was still pulling on a sweater when Ten was half out the door. “Let’s go!”

When they entered the cafe, Ten hacked a cough. Kun hit his back with concern.

“I’m fine,” Ten waved him off, voice gravelly. He cleared his throat. Kun didn't believe him. If he fainted in this cafe . . . Before the thought finished, Ten had already dragged him to where Doyoung and Jaehyun were sitting.

Kun wondered how early they arrived. If Jaehyun was as intense about being punctual as Doyoung was, or if it was always Doyoung that got them there so early. Jaehyun moved his cup from his face, features scrunched up as though it hadn’t tasted right. He reached over Doyoung to grab a stirring spoon. Doyoung gave them a small smile. Nervous. Kun could relate.

Everything started fine, better than fine, even. The food was good, and with Doyoung and Kun not on eggshells around each other, and with Kun now welcome to Ten’s affections ( _real_ affections, which he still couldn’t really comprehend even now), there was nothing standing in the way of a pleasant afternoon with his ex-turned-friend and ex-turned-friend's boyfriend.

“We still have a date tonight, you know,” Ten’s hand wrapped around his upper arm.

“We do?” Kun actually said out loud, like a fool.

“I count staying in your apartment and watching a movie a date, sue me,” Ten just smiled at him, as he did.

Things took a turn after all their plates had been pushed to the side.

He didn’t notice the shift at first. He had been talking to Jaehyun about why he wasn't a TA, and realized Ten hadn’t butted into their conversation in some minutes. He had previously been jumping between talking to Doyoung and adding on to whatever Kun said, but he hadn’t said anything in a while.

When Kun glanced at him, he was staring at something on the table; Kun couldn’t figure out what. Splitting his attention between Doyoung, Jaehyun, and his oddly unresponsive demon- boyfriend, his boyfriend- was too much. He caught Ten’s eyes moving as Doyoung pushed his hair back. Now Ten was staring at Doyoung. 

Oh, great. What now?

“Oh my god,” Ten stood up, eyes wide. Kun looked up at him questioningly, praying he wasn’t about to make a scene. Ten pointed to Jaehyun then to Doyoung. “He- you-” then looked back to Kun, “they- oh my god.”

“Hey, hey, what’s going on,” he pulled on Ten’s shirt, encouraging him to sit back down. Ten didn’t move. “Somehow,” he pointed with one hard to him and one to Doyoung, “both of you had the same idiotic solution to the same idiotic problem. How the _fuck_ -”

“Hey, calm down. What are you talking about-”

“I knew something was weird,” he pointed at Jaehyun again, “Come on, stand up.”

“You don’t need to,” Kun said to Jaehyun, voice even. “Ten, what are you doing?” he grit out.

Ten moved his hand to the highest button on his shirt and fiddled with it. Kun refrained from covering his face.

Ten rounded back to Doyoung again, “Show me your wrist.”

Doyoung made eye contact with Kun, then put out one of his arms above the table.

Ten shook his head, “No, the other one, come on.”

With more hesitation, Doyoung switched hands. Kun looked at both Ten and Jaehyun staring at Doyoung’s arm. What was going on? 

“Get on with it, flip it, move your shirt out of the way,” Ten demanded.

Doyoung frowned at him, and carefully undid the button on his cuff and rolled the sleeve up and let his hand face palm-up on the table. There was a tattoo on his inner wrist. That was new. It was a square with elegant geometric shapes inside, like a carved stamp, a deep shade of red. Doyoung looked annoyed, but his lips were drawn into a thin line, an indication that he was feeling something closer to panic.

Kun found Ten looking at him expectant.

“What? I don’t get it. Leave Doyoung alone.”

Ten gestured between them and pointed at Kun’s torso, raising his eyebrows. Kun didn’t appreciate the implication he was being dumb.

“What?”

“Oh my _god_ , you’re stupid. I’m stupid too, I guess. Do I have to spell it out?” 

Jaehyun was leaning back in his seat, arms crossed. Kun looked between him and Doyoung and back to Ten.

“Alright,” Ten brought his hands back up to his collar and started unbuttoning his shirt.

“Ten, what the _fuck_ , we’re in _public_ ,” Kun hissed.

He stopped after the second button, pulling on his shirt to perfectly frame Kun’s brand on his chest.

Jaehyun’s eyes widened. Doyoung just stared. 

Kun looked back up at Ten. He leaned forward. “So . . . okay, first of all, sit down and button your shirt back up,” he yanked on Ten again, who this time finally listened. “So,” he brought his voice down lower. He didn’t know how to say this. This was so awkward.

“Yes, Jaehyun is also a demon, Doyoung is the one he made a deal with, and it’s _gotta_ be for the same reason you summoned me.”

“The same-” Doyoung started. Kun held his hands up for everyone to be silent. He put his face in his hands and leaned over the table and sunk into his seat. Ten patted his back. 

Kun heard someone smack their lips, and thought it was Ten, but when he brought his gaze back up Ten was just frowning. 

It was Jaehyun, actually. “Hm,” he said, mouth scrunched up like he had tasted something sour.

“What?” Ten had now crossed his arms. Confrontational, but not as confident as he usually was.

“Can we take this somewhere else?” Kun asked.

“Do we have to?” Jaehyun leaned further back. Doyoung hit him with his elbow. The light, smiling face had disappeared into something neutral, bordering on distaste. “What is there to talk about?”

“So you’re . . .” Kun gestured at Jaehyun.

“A demon? Yes, I thought we just established that.”

“You only noticed just now?” he rounded on Ten. “Did you know?” he pointed back at Jaehyun.

Jaehyun shrugged. _Renjun was right, he had gotten the dumbest demon in hell._

“He didn’t! He’s trying to be nonchalant,” Ten argued.

“What’s your excuse?”

“I told you before, I can’t spot demons on site! I don’t know him!” On their side of the table, both of them were getting more worked up, gestures becoming more exaggerated in exasperation. Jaehyun was watching with uncaring eyes, and the only movement Doyoung had made was to rebutton the cuff of his sleeve.

“You thought something was weird, that first time,” Kun slapped a hand to his face. 

"Yeah, and I didn't know what! This is not on me."

Kun hit a hand on the table, just a touch too loud, considering that there were others in the restaurant. “This isn’t your boyfriend?” he asked Doyoung.

Doyoung took a glance at Jaehyun before shaking his head. “And you’re not dating Ten?”

Kun put his hands over his face again. 

“Actually . . .” Ten slunk one arm on the table and rested his chin in his hand, knowing grin spread wide. 

“You know, we’re gonna go,” Kun stood up, pulling on Ten’s hand. When they were both out of the booth, "I'll text you later," he said to Doyoung. To Jaehyun, "Uh, maybe I'll see you again? I don't know. Either way, uh, bye."

“Why’d we have to go?” Ten looked up with wide, innocent eyes, as though Kun hadn’t been completely justified in getting out of there. “It was about to get interesting!”

“I have limits,” Kun said, “and that met them.”

“Weird hard limit,” Ten murmured. Kun hit him in the shoulder.

 _This is embarrassing for both of us_ , Doyoung texted him later, _you better not stop talking to me because of this._

***

Ten was staring out the window, had been for quite a while. Kun called out his name and got no response. He brought his fingers up to the brand at his side and slowly pressed. 

The reaction was delayed, but it came eventually. Ten turned slowly, confused.

“You good?” Kun asked.

“Huh? Yeah. Just tired, I guess.”

Did tired mean tired? Or did it mean weak? Were they synonyms? Kun looked at him with concern for elongated seconds before he went back to reading. In his peripheries he watched Ten flop on the couch, facing the back cushions. When it was time for the next drama Ten (and Kun, to an extent) were invested in, he pushed on Ten's shoulder. He groaned and curled up, opening some space that Kun could sit in. It took him close to five minutes to turn onto his back, sit-up, and focus on the TV Kun had turned on.

Even though Ten liked to mimic sleep, he was never actually groggy waking up. It was odd.

Ten followed Kun’s schedule, ate with him, followed him to school to bring him back from the library, got into bed, but it didn’t physically mean anything, Kun didn’t think. Maybe that had changed with the deal taking so long. Ten had said that was a demon’s main source of sustenance. 

Without it . . . then what?

The next day, before when they usually ate dinner, Ten came up from behind him and put his hands on his shoulders, leaning on him. Kun crumpled a couple centimeters under his weight.

“I’m hungry,” he said.

“Are you, really?” Kun said, only half paying attention.

Ten’s stomach growled. Kun shifted and looked up, but Ten was unbothered. Could demons just make bodily functions happen? Kun didn’t ask, just finished typing his sentence before getting up to make them dinner.

When Kun opened his eyes the next morning, Ten was still asleep, as splayed out as he could be in the limited space, black t-shirt bunched up. Kun stared at him way too long before he realized what was different.

He nudged Ten awake, but an arm knocked him away and went over Ten’s eyes. “Ten,” he murmured as calmly as he could.

Kun got a hum in acknowledgment.

“Your tat- your brands.”

Ten’s eyes opened and he shot up. He held out his arms, decorated with the black handprints. They faded in a couple of seconds. Ten relaxed them back down, and, just as quick, they reappeared. “Hm,” he said. His shirt grew into a turtleneck and he hopped out of bed.

Affecting unblemished skin was now no longer possible, it seemed, and the brands were now a permanent part of Ten’s appearance.

Kun wouldn’t say he was bothered by them. He wasn’t, really, but they were a reminder.

Ten wasn’t meant to stay.

He went directly to Renjun’s, didn’t even beat around the issue.

“He’s just so tired all the time. I’m worried his worry of turning into dust might actually be founded.”

Renjun shuffled around his kitchen before handing Kun a clear bottle with an opaque tan liquid. “You can give them this.”

“What is it?”

“A potion.”

Yeah, okay. “You made this?”

“No.” He didn’t give any further clarification.

“Alright. Okay, thanks.”

Coming back to the apartment, he expected a lethargic, wasting away Ten, but when he entered, Ten came up and wrapped arms around his waist, spinning him around.

“What’s this about?” Fluctuations, always.

“Just felt like it,” the smile he gave was bright.

Kun put the bottle and put it in the back of the top cabinet, for safe-keeping.

Cooking dinner, he was distracted, which was not the best thing to be in the kitchen. One hand held a knife, and the other hit the burner, and the flinch he made resulted in a ‘ow, fuck,' that had even Ten coming over.

Kun stared at the cut on the side of his hand. It wasn’t bad or serious, just stupid. He knew better.

“Kun,” Ten didn’t say his name very often, opting for darling, babe, or sweetheart. Hearing it drawn out in concern . . . it kept Kun frozen.

Ten took his hand to take a look, thumb hitting the blood slipping down onto Kun’s wrist. What was this, reverse deja-vu?

Except, Ten didn’t acknowledge any pain or discomfort, didn’t hiss away. Kun stayed like a mannequin while Ten cleaned his hand.

In the morning, Kun slid out of bed, only barely awake while getting dressed. He caught something odd in the mirror. He lifted the t-shirt he had just pulled on back to just around his arms. 

The brand was gone. Kun felt something sink in his chest, eyes going blurry. Tears? 

“Ten?!” he called out, to no answer. He hadn’t been in the bed when Kun had woken up. He swung around the door frame. There was no one in the living room or kitchen. Kun sat heavily down on the couch, sunk into it.

Well, that was it, right? If the brand was gone, that meant nothing was left, right? Nothing was left.

The door opened. Kun jumped up, heart in his throat, eyes wet.

Ten froze when he saw him. He was bundled up in Kun’s thicker jacket, nose pink. He took a step in, careful, came closer until he was in front of Kun. He placed his hands on Kun’s upper arms and slid them up. “Are you okay?” his hands came up to Kun’s face, traced his thumbs once under his eyes.

“Fine,” he choked out.

“I went for a walk.”

“Okay.”

“What happened?”

Kun licked his lips. “Um. Right, so, uh.”

Ten waited with expectant eyes.

“Your brand is gone,” he pulled up the side of his shirt. 

Ten reached out. Kun felt nothing besides what was normal when someone touched your waist. “Oh.” The gravity fell and he unzipped the coat as quickly as he could, pulled on the baggy shirt he was wearing underneath. 

Not only was Kun’s print gone, but so were all the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh, finally! ive been sitting on the jaehyun reveal forever, I know some of y'all noticed the foreshadowing lmao  
> after this there will be one last shorter chapter! it'll come a lot quicker than this did, cause its already mostly written, but before that i'll be going through and editing my typos etc in earlier chapters  
> I got 2-3 extra storylines started for some spin-offs so *eyes emoji  
> also i made a [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/heretothere/) out of vanity


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You’re in on this too?”  
> “Just as of today. Unless you’re asking about the witch thing, then, well, it’s a long story.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhh!!!!! late bc I was attempting nano which i ultimately had to give up on  
> cleaned up all the previous chapters and then i kept dragging this final chapter out but we made it!!!!
> 
> have I been listening to work it excessively today? yes. we love a bop

“That is odd,” Renjun said flatly over the phone. 

When Ten had revealed bare skin, he ran his hands over his arms, frantic. Kun couldn’t do anything in his own confusion but watch. He wiped his eyes and Ten’s movements slowed. They looked at each other, nervous and uneasy.

“I don’t- I don’t know how- what-,” Ten tried to formulate a thought. His voice turned quiet, “What now?” he asked.

The only option Kun could think of was, of course, to call Renjun.

“Yes, I’ve made deals before-” Multiple deals, right. . . Kun would have to wait until later to grill him about that. “-but I really have no idea what to tell you. I don’t know the meaning, or the implication, of the brand disappearing and the demon still being there. The brand shouldn’t _ever_ disappear, actually.”

Kun felt a headache coming on. What did any of this _mean_?

“I’m going to refer you to someone else. I’m not his apprentice or anything, but we’re close. He’s good. Or, he knows more than I do, at least.”

“Any expertise helps. Thanks, Renjun.”

“I can try to bring him by tonight. I’ll let you know when I get a hold of him.”

“Can you just give me his number?” he paced to the window and looked out at the handful of people who were walking about on that chilly day, blissfully unaware of the turmoil brewing in Kun’s apartment.

“Where’s the drama in that?”

“This has all been dramatic enough. Any more is just excessive.”

“Well, I’ve gotta get back to this sculpture. I’m out,” and he hung up.

They would just have to wait.

Kun went through the motions of his day. He made lunch, answered emails, and stress cleaned, but he did reschedule the appointment he was supposed to have later that afternoon with his supervising professor. Family matter, he had used for his excuse, and Kun had been a good enough student up to then that Professor Choi didn’t question it.

A text from Renjun came in before dusk. 

_Im not coming tonight, i have work to do, donghyucks mentor will still show up tho_

Donghyuck’s mentor? Were Renjun’s roommates also witches? What the fuck?

The apartment only got more tense after the sun set. Ten was watching the TV, but his eyes were glazed over. Kun’s laptop was open, but he hadn’t been sitting at the table for more than fifteen minutes at a time. 

Kun quietly sat on the couch, opposite from the side Ten was on, who was curled up with his legs to his chest. Ten scoot over an inch, then another, and another, again and again until they were thigh to thigh. Kun threw his arm over the back of the couch, forearm barely brushing Ten’s shoulders.

This other witch- it was possible he wouldn’t know anything at all about their situation, but the possibility he could . . . Kun didn’t know what emotion that elicited. Hope? Fear?

There was a knock at the door and both of them jumped.

He took a deep breath before standing up, giving Ten’s shoulder a squeeze before moving to the door. Ten turned the TV volume down and watched from over the back of the couch. 

Kun had only just recently met a witch for the first time, and Renjun was, on the outside, completely normal. But Renjun was young, so what if experienced witches just became creepier and creepier over time? Oh, why couldn’t Renjun be here too?

He opened the door, eyes angled downward to the ground, nervous about looking the witch straight on. 

Did he recognize those scuffed shoes? He looked up.

It was just Taeil.

Did he miss a text? Had he forgotten something they had planned?

“Oh, hey, what’s up? Did you need something?” Kun tried to lean casually on the doorframe, heart still pumping.

“Renjun told me to stop by.”

Kun knocked his head into the edge of the door, realizing what this meant. “You’re in on this too?”

Taeil gave him an apologetic smile. “Just as of today.” Kun opened the door the rest of the way to let him in. “Unless you’re asking about the witch thing, then, well, it’s a long story.”

“Right.”

Taeil hummed, “You know, I had a hunch something was up with you.”

“Right.”

“So,” he clapped his hands once, “what the sitch?”

Kun motioned over at Ten, whose head was resting on folded arms on the couch back. “This is the demon I summoned-”

“Ten, right?” Taeil directed to Ten, who nodded. “It’s great to meet you! I was wondering if Kun would ever introduce us.”

“Would have been nicer under different circumstances,” Ten grit out.

“Our contract didn’t work out,” Kun interrupted, “or, it couldn’t, and so Ten was . . . stuck here.” Taeil nodded as he spoke. “And now our brands are gone.”

“Oh, your signature?”

“Sure, whatever jargon you want to use for it,” Kun couldn’t help but roll his eyes, “you know what I mean.”

“Where were they?” he looked him up and down.

“My side, his chest.”

Taeil waited. Kun reluctantly pulled up his shirt for the- what, third time that day?

“Here?” he poked Kun’s side, causing him to flinch. “And yours?” he looked at Ten, who pulled on the collar of his shirt and pointed under his collarbone. Taeil put his hand there to no reaction from Ten.

“What do we do?”

Taeil promptly sat down on the floor, legs crossed, hands curled over his thighs.

“Taeil?”

He was shushed. He and Ten looked back and forth from each other to Taeil for what felt like much too long. Taeil stood back up without saying anything. He leaned closer to Ten, who leaned back an inch when he was in his face. “Can you transform?”

Ten scoffed. Silence, and nothing happened. That wasn’t so unusual, was it? He had already been too weak to hide the handprints. 

“This may be shocking to hear,” Taeil started. They listened with bated breath. “But you’ve become human.”

Kun felt the same disbelief that took over Ten's expression. “I’ve . . . what? How is that even possible?”

Now that it had been said out loud, it made sense. Ten got hungry for real food. He felt better after sleeping. His blood no longer burned.

“I can’t give you a how, unfortunately. I don’t think anyone can say for sure. I’ve heard of it happening, but I never thought I would ever meet someone who has changed.”

Ten turned back around in shock. Kun could imagine some of the questions going through his mind, he had enough in his own head.

“That’s for certain?” Kun asked.

Taeil nodded. “What else could it be? Your signatures are completely gone. You’re supposed to be marked by those for life. On top of that, there’s no . . . there’s no unusual energy coming off of either of you.”

“What does this mean for . . . I don’t know, everything?” Ten tilted his face back up to Taeil.

“There are things you can do, I think, to get an identity, so to say. I can talk to some older witches. I don’t know who knows the full process, but it’s not like, forbidden knowledge or anything.”

“Do you want something to drink?” Kun asked, “Water? Tea?”

“Tea would be great, whatever you've got is fine. Uncaffeinated, if you have it.”

Kun busied himself in the kitchen with the kettle, clanking around just loud enough that Taeil and Ten could murmur to each other without Kun hearing them.

He came back in to Taeil saying, “Your brain has to get used to being human again. I don’t just mean remembering you can’t teleport or do magic, but you’re governed by chemical balances again.”

“Ugh, that’s why everything feels so off,” he gratefully took the mug Kun handed him. While he had been out of the room, Ten had wrapped himself in the throw blanket that needed to be washed.

“You’ll get through it, I’m sure,” Taeil patted Ten’s head. Man, this was so bizarre. “I’ll come back around again soon. I’ll text you,” he said the last bit to Kun.

“Okay.”

“You’re still shaken.”

“How could you tell?” Kun asked dryly.

“Relax,” Taeil put his hands on Kun’s shoulders and looked up at him. He shook him once. “Everything is fine. I’m not saying this is going to be easy,” he looked back over at Ten, indicating this was being said to both of them, “but it’ll be okay! You’re okay, he’s okay, just focus on that right now.” 

Kun waved as Taeil let himself out. When they were alone again, he turned from the door, “Are you okay?”

“Hm?”

Kun sat down next to Ten again. “Are you okay? I’m sure this is a lot for you to take in. You’re the one who was a demon after all.”

“Pretty fucked up, isn’t it?”

“A little,” he slipped his arm around Ten’s shoulders. “What did you two talk about?”

“You heard the brunt of it,” he nestled into his side and put his head under Kun’s chin. “I need papers and also now that I have a human body I have to be more aware that my vessel is governed by demonic creations like hormones and antibodies.”

“There’s no way hell spawned both hormones and antibodies.”

“Didn’t you know? Vaccines are the work of the devil.”

“I will leave you here, on this couch, if you dare make me hear something like that with my own ears again.”

Ten laughed, softly, lightly. He burdened by today, but it would get better.

***

Every other day Kun back came to the apartment, Taeil was there discussing things with Ten. He tried to leave them be, let them discuss whatever they needed to. It didn't make him lonely, so to say, but it made him realize the new dynamic he and Ten were going to have to figure out.

Would Ten keep staying with him? Kun wouldn’t just kick him out, of course, but now he was a living being, with real mortal needs like food and water and heat and space. Even if they got all these documents, Ten would need things like a phone, friends, and money to exist in the modern world.

“Ten . . . what are you doing?”

“My body’s going through a lot of changes and I refuse to be embarrassed about it.”

“Ten, this means you can’t just eat potato chips,” Kun nabbed them out of his hands.

Even if Ten was a human at one point, he had to learn it all again. He hadn't even considered that he would even have to push healthier eating habits.

“I can tell you’re still worried,” Taeil accosted him on his walk to the lab one afternoon.

“Can you blame me?”

“No,” Taeil shook his head, “But everything is going well. I’m going to take Ten out to meet the High Council this weekend to make sure everything is getting processed properly.”

“Right.”

“This part will be done soon,” he patted Kun’s shoulder, “but then, of course, you’re gonna have some other things to work through, between you and him, I mean.”

“I know,” Kun huffed out. "I've been thinking about that plenty. Can we talk about something else? You’re turning into more of Taeil the witch and less of Taeil the friend I’ve known since undergrad.”

“I’m still the same,” Taeil smiled. "We could meet in the middle and you can tell me how you actually started dating a demon."

"Renjun didn't tell you?"

"No? Most things I do hear are secondhand from Donghyuck, and Renjun doesn't share as much with him as you would think." When Kun only responded with a distant hum, he said, "Would you like to hear about Johnny embarrassing himself at the frat party he dragged me to last weekend?”

“ _Please_.”

A week later, Ten shoved a paper in front of Kun’s face, “I have a full name now!” 

Kun stared at the paper a long time, trying to make sense of the long combination of English letters.

“Why are you looking at it like that? It’s not written in ble-” Ten stopped mid-word. He tried again, “Gbleh- fuck! What the fuck?!” Ten garbled nonsense until the hair on the back of Kun’s neck stood up because static fell out of Ten’s mouth. “Okay, cool, I was worried I even lost the ability to speak in demon at all.”

“I thought the language wasn’t called demon?”

“What else could I call it, colloquially?”

“You know words like colloquially, but rebuke is beyond you?”

“Shut up and congratulate me on my new name.”

“It’s lovely, babe.”

Ten gasped. “You-” was he about to cry? “You just called me babe!”

***

The semester was set to end soon. It didn’t mean a lot for Kun and his cohort, as grad students, but it did mean they had to clean up after panicked undergrads more often than not.

“I swear to god, if one more genetics student improperly disposes of their flies . . .”

“That’s what you get for being Dr. Lee’s TA.”

“We all make mistakes. Kun, tell her there was no way to know being the genetic's TA would suck this much.”

Kun had already tuned them out. He was half day-dreaming, half worrying about the paper he had just submitted for one of his seminars. He was only taken out of his stupor by seeing a familiar face in the narrow window beside the door. “I’ll be back in a second,” he said, though no one was paying attention to him at that point.

“Hey,” Kun greeted. He let the door fall shut behind him, so they had privacy in the hallway. “What are you doing here?”

“Taeil’s going with me to get some papers from the Council.”

“Taeil’s going with you or are you going with Taeil?”

“Same difference. He had to bring some stuff here first, so I came to say hi.”

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

They smiled at each other. 

“Okay, that’s all,” Ten moved forward to peck his cheek. “I’ll let you get back to your nerd shit.” 

Kun waved as Ten walked backwards away, impressively not tripping.

The two students who had been bickering had moved onto another topic, but their voices still dominated the room. Kun dropped himself onto a stool and laid his head on the cold counter.

Kun pulled himself back up when he heard a "Ooooo." Chenle was leaning over from the other side of the counter smirking at him. “Did your boyfriend come visit you?”

Kun titled his head into a hand, “What of it?”

“I haven’t seen him in a couple weeks. I was worried you had broken up.” 

“No,” Kun shook his head.

When the door opened that evening Kun didn’t even look over his shoulder, “How was-”

Ten slapped some papers onto the table. Kun tilted the screen of his laptop down to see them. “I need you to help me with these.”

“What are . . .” he trailed off when he starting reading the incomplete forms. He rarely saw such things on paper these days, but they were job applications. “What are these for?”

“Shouldn’t it be obvious? I need a job. Now that I have human emotions, I would feel bad if I continued to leech off you out of necessity, so, I must get a job.” He pointed to the one on top, “This is for the cafe, uh, that way,” Ten pointed in the direction of the kitchen. 

That gave Kun no real reference point, but he didn’t butt in.

“This one is for a cafe near the campus. None across the city,” Ten gave a tilted smile. “Also there are a couple for convenience stores. Taeil recommended I fill those out too.”

Kun hummed.

“Also . . . the High Council wants me to help out with some stuff, as, you know, repayment for this stuff,” he dropped some more papers onto the table, “but I wouldn't make any money from that.”

“Sorry I haven’t been able to help with all this until now.”

Ten raised an eyebrow at him, “For what?” He reached across the table, fingertips touching Kun’s hand.

“I don't know.”

“I’m not going to suddenly deem you unimportant. Is that was this is about? Are you insecure?”

“You already know the answer to that.”

“I do,” Ten smirked, “but really, I became a human because of you. That counts for a lot, you know?”

“I thought you became a human because you fucked up the contract?”

Ten cringed, “That too.”

“Not your best attempt at being sweet.”

“I’m plenty sweet,” Ten forcefully poked Kun’s side. Kun just laughed. “Are your concerns quelled, sweetheart, or you got more?”

Kun had plenty, so he said them. They sat down the couch across from each other, knee to knee, and Kun pointed out how small the apartment was for two of them, to Ten’s argument they had already been sharing for weeks. Kun didn’t want to keep sharing his cheap bed that was only designed for one person, but he didn’t have the budget for a new mattress, Ten pointed out there was a couch and if they had to, they could sleep on different schedules.

Kun was being grandted a glimpse of what real domestic life was like. It included the sweet things, like cuddling, but it was also talking about cleaning and electricity bills. It wasn’t all romantic, but it was real.

***

Kun walked into the library, Ten in hand. Sicheng was there, curled up in a chair with his laptop on his knees.

He took out an earphone when they approached.

Sicheng had never seen any of his friends ever be so grossly part of a couple. It was obvious by the clasp of their hands, the lightness of Kun’s expression, and the jacket Ten was wearing that was obviously just on the side of too big. He had to consciously not gag.

“So, I’d like to introduce you to my actual boyfriend,” Kun used the hand that was free to gesture to Ten. “My actual human boyfriend.”

“Finally the schtick is over,” Sicheng threw his arms up. “If you start calling him pet names in front of me I will throw up.”

Ten stuck out his tongue and Kun pulled Ten closer to his side.

“I should thank you, I guess,” Kun said, “this was your idea after all.”

Sicheng narrowed his eyes, “You’re welcome, I guess. Honestly, I’m surprised this all worked out. I'm surprised it even worked out for you two.”

"Huh?"

"Oh, you haven't heard."

"Heard what?"

Sicheng pursed his lips. Then, he put his earphone back in.

Kun wouldn't ever say his life was perfect, he was too much of a realist (border on cynic) to ever think that.

Right now, though, Kun was the best he had ever been, hand-in-hand with the result of what turned out to be one of his best decisions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to all a y'all who supported this story . . . ilu . . . thanks for joining me!
> 
> [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/heretothere/)  
> can't say when to expect the side stories, but they'll come out sometime! im gonna aim to get at least a piece of one out by the end of the year, i actually just added some build-up (foreshadowing?) for those in the last couple scenes before posting this :x  
> (if theres something youd like to see more of, lemme know! im not so much taking requests but it might inspire/motivate me lmao)
> 
> [edit: link to the series list](https://archiveofourown.org/series/2080032)  
> stay safe everyone!


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